


A Hero's Gonna Save Me Just in Time

by orphan_account, Shinju_Tori_Archives (Shinju_Tori)



Series: Let's Play Heroes [1]
Category: Game Grumps, Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, The Creatures (Youtube RPF), The Yogscast
Genre: Heroes AU, superhero/superpower au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 05:55:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3477017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinju_Tori/pseuds/Shinju_Tori_Archives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The theory of evolution is a long studied and hypothesized branch of science. It is not unheard of for new theories to surface, some more realistic then others. All species can adapt and grow, becoming better suited to survive the harsh world. Why, then, can humans not do the same? The answer is simple: you just don't know about it yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bend the Rules Just to Break it

**Author's Note:**

> So this is going to potentially be a monster of a fic, between me (renegadeartist) and Tori (Shinju_Tori). It was initially just going to be a Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter fic but it evolved into adding a few other YouTube groups.
> 
> It's based off of the show Heroes (if you've never heard of it it's basically an X-Men kinda thing [Shinu: A lame X-Men kinda thing. I mean seriously guys? An ECLIPSE?]) and we'll try our best to make it so you can understand what's going on and who the people are even if you don't watch one or more of the groups or have never seen the show, Heroes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a reference we'll be listing the characters and the group they're from as they appear in the chapters to help people along (later their powers as well). Groups include Rooster Teeth/Achievement hunter (RT/AH), Game Grumps (GG), The Creatures (CT), and camoes from the Yogscast (YOGS).
> 
> In this chapter are (mentioned by name):  
> Ray Narvaez Jr. (RT/AH), Michael Jones (RT/AH), Geoff Ramsey (RT/AH), Matt Hullum (RT/AH), Matt Bragg (RT/AH), Jeremy Dooley (RT/AH), Chris Demarais (RT/AH), Aaron Marquis (RT/AH), JJ Castillo (RT/AH), Seamus O'Doherty (CT), Aleks Marchant (CT)

Michael woke up to a book being dropped on his head. He sat up, scraping his chair against the cold tiled floor. He looked around, swinging his arms to hit whoever had woken him up so suddenly. He felt his hand hit the table he had previously been resting on and his anger immediately gave way to pain as he cradled his hand. He heard someone laugh loudly and he practically growled. "It's not funny, Ray."

"Oh, I'd say it's a lot more than funny. It's borderline hilarious," his friend remarked, in a practically monotone voice. Michael just pouted, rubbing his hand. He saw Ray's eyes flit to the table and widen the smallest fraction. "Woah," he muttered. Michael followed his friend's gaze and felt his eyes widen too. There was a fist-sized mark on the metal table.

"Holy shit," Michael whispered, forgetting about the throbbing pain in his hand. If he didn't know better, he would've said that the mark looked like a scorch mark...

"Dude," Ray said, attempting to lighten the mood, "You're going to get sued or something."

"It's not my fault they have cheap tables in this garbage school," he muttered, scooping up his notebooks and shoving them back into his backpack. He hadn't noticed it before, but the class had been let out already. That was probably why Ray had woken him up.

"Mr. Sorola looked like he was going to murder you again."

"Whatever," Michael rolled his eyes, "All he ever talks about is that book of his. I don't think anyone really cares about it."

Ray shrugged. "I think it's interesting."

Michael hit a hand to his cheek in mock amazement. "Woah, Ray actually read something?" He received a bump on the shoulder that almost made him drop his books. "Hey, watch it. I'm the one giving you a ride home."

"Correction," Ray said as they exited the classroom. By now the halls had emptied and only one or two students were getting things out of their lockers. "You're dragging me along to the airport to pick up that exchange student the principal roped you into taking care of."

"He's just going to stay at my house for a month at most," Michael muttered, almost tripping on the stairs. He felt his heart leap in his throat and he clutched his books closer to his chest. "Besides, I have to get some kind of community credit to graduate this year. I didn't want to waste time with service hours or something. It's not worth it."

Ray glanced at the books in Michael's hands. "Dude, you might want to- you know what? Never mind."

"What the hell are you talking about, Ray?" Michael shifted his load to his one arm and fished into his jacket pocket for his keys as they had finally made it to the parking lot. He found the car quickly, unlocked it and threw his books and backpack into the backseat with a relieved sigh. Ray silently chose shotgun, as he always did, and didn't say anything for a while, not until they were on the road to the airport.

"You know, I-" Ray started to say before clamping his mouth shut again and looked out the window.

Michael glanced over at his best friend and rolled his eyes "Oh, come on, Ray. I know you're dying to tell me something so you should just fucking spit it out already." He leaned over and hit the Puerto Rican, lightly, on the shoulder.

"Keep your eyes on the road, asshole." Ray snorted before swallowing hard. "Y-You're going to laugh at me, I know it, but... something weird's been happening to me lately." He lapsed into silence again, but this time Michael knew that he was just trying to get his thoughts straightened out so that Michael could understand them, "Sometimes when I'm walking or talking or even looking at myself in the mirror it's like I'm just... not there."

Michael would have snorted, but he could tell that Ray was serious and that it was bothering his friend. It wasn't a joke, but that didn't mean Michael knew how to deal with it. He raised an eyebrow and asked, stopping at a red light so he could look at his friend properly, "What, like you're turning invisible or something?"

"Actually, yeah," Ray muttered, and this time Michael really did laugh.

"Yeah, and I can control the weather. Are you sure you're not just having some weird mental breakdown? You _have_ been really quiet during class lately."

"No, it's not that. There's something wrong with me, Michael, and I don't know why. I feel like you're the only one who would understand."

Michael glanced sideways at Ray. He loved the guy, but sometimes he just didn't make sense, "Why talk to me?"

"Because you- you know what? Never mind." Ray shook his head and shifted his gaze back out the window. "I knew I shouldn't have told you about it," he muttered.

They drove in silence for what seemed like ages, the only sound some shitty music from a pop station that Michael had turned on once back when he first got his car and never bothered to change.

Ray looked over slightly amused as he heard his best friend groan a little, hitting his steering wheel in frustration. "What's wrong?" He asked.

Miachel snapped, a disgusted look on his face, "I have to get gas. We're going to be late picking up the British twink."

Ray shrugged. He didn't care all that much since the guy wasn't staying at his house after all. "Mind if I get some snacks while we're there?"

Michael rolled his eyes but Ray didn't miss the smile that flickered onto his face for an instant. "Oh, you suddenly have money now?"

"Shut the fuck up," Ray said, laughing. Michael pulled up to one of the gas pumps and made a shooing motion "Go on and get your fix of soda and whatever else you need." Ray nodded, climbing out of the car "I'll be right back." 

Mchael watched Ray go in before filling up his tank. He let his mind wander as he went on autopilot. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice a guy wearing a hoodie with the hood up slouch into the store behind him. He definitely didn't see an obvious bulge in his hoodie pocket where the guy had his hands clenched inside...

-.-

He felt his head almost hit the counter as it slipped off his hand. He swore quietly, his head shooting back up, as the bell above the door rang, and Geoff lazily watched a Hispanic kid wearing a purple hoodie walk in and make his way over to the sodas in the back. ' _Skinny. Shy. Probably a nerd from his Pokemon tee. Not a threat._ ' Geoff decided with a slight nod to himself. He kept an eye on him in the mirror in the corner nonetheless. Appearances could be deceiving sometimes. Geoff smirked slightly feeling his tattoos twitch in a subtle reminder of that.

His smile slipped off his face momentarily as he considered just  _why_ he was subconsciously profiling the scrawny kid that found his way into the store. The last time he had allowed his mind to wander, he'd been unceremoniously knocked out and thrown into the back of a truck with blacked out windows.

Apparently they were "just trying to help you" but he really didn't think that kidnapping someone could, in any way, be beneficial to that person. It just made people super suspicious of your goals and it reminded Geoff of a park ranger, on the lookout for animals that could potentially be rabid or have a taste for human flesh.

Either way, he really wanted to punch that Hullum fucker right in his stupid fucking face the next time he saw him.

The next guy who came in made Geoff's blood run cold. ' _Hood up. Bulky. Obvious bulge in his pocket meaning he likely has a gun. Threat._ ' He tensed up, pressing the silent alarm button under the counter, as the guy walked up to the counter. He felt his tattoos twitch nervously, preparing to fight. Just as Geoff thought that maybe, just maybe, he'd been overreacting, the freaking kid pulled out a pistol and pointed it at him.

Geoff put his hands in the air as the guy snapped, "Empty the register and put it in a bag. Try anything funny and I'll shoot you." Geoff slowly nodded and slowly did as he asked. His hands were strangely steady, even with a gun pointed at his face. Maybe he was just used to it, guns being pointed at him as if he was dangerous.

God, he really hoped that was not the case. He was too young for this stupid shit to be normal. He glanced up into the mirror and froze seeing the kid from before reflected in the glass. He was standing in plain sight though the edges of his body looked fuzzy and warped though the mirror reflected everyone else who walked in just fine.

When Geoff dropped his gaze down to stare down the aisle, preparing to shout at him to run or at the very least attempt to send a telepathic message to the kid to get the fuck out, he was surprised to find that there was nothing there. He inhaled sharply as a voice in him whispered that he had found another one. He swore to himself that once this was over, he was going to talk to the kid, warn him about the Company, about the Quartet.

He didn't give a shit what Hullum said, neither group was trying to help people like him. The group Hullum was a part of was trying to figure out which people with powers were threats and of the "non-threatening" ones, which ones were "useful" to their precious Company. Meanwhile, the other group, who Geoff had only heard of but hadn't seen, functioned like a gang and used their powers to commit petty crimes.

But first...

"What are you fucking looking at?" The robber demanded looking over his shoulder. Geoff prayed that the kid would have the sense to stay hidden, that he had enough hold on his ability that he would be able to escape unharmed. He glanced back up at the mirror to see the kid creeping down the aisle towards the counter. His heart leapt into his throat as the kid tripped over one of the racks in the aisle and popped back into view. A dark voice in his head muttered, ' _That's what he gets for trying to play hero._ '

"The fuck!?" The guy shouted turning around completely. Before Geoff could do anything, he lifted the gun and took aim at the kid's chest.

"Duck kid!" He shouted as the gun went off...

-.-

Time seemed to slow down to Ray as the robber's gun came up and pointed directly at him. The cashier shouted, his voice coming from a distance as the gun went off at the same time. Ray froze as he stared down at himself, expecting to see blood blooming on Snorlax's face. His heart skipped a beat when he saw nothing. He was invisible again but there wasn't any blood dripping from nowhere either. He chanced a glance behind him, to see a bullet hole in the wall. It took a few seconds before it registered in his head. 

He was both invisible **and** intangible.

He looked up to see the guy behind the counter looking not directly at him but slightly upwards behind him. Ray turned around and looked up to see himself reflected in the mirror. He stared at the fuzzy edges of the image of himself before turning around to look at the cashier stunned.

"I'm a motherfucking ghost..." Ray breathed as he started moving closer to the robber, careful not to trip this time...

-.-

As soon as the gun went off and the kid vanished again, Geoff's mind went into autopilot. ' _No blood. Invisibility **and** intangibility. That kid's incredibly lucky._' The robber swung around, pointing his gun back in Geoff's face. "Where'd he go?" He demanded, and Geoff just smiled. He glanced at the mirror, seeing the kid just behind the robber. He nodded slightly, giving him the silent ok, and in an instant the gun was wrenched from the robber's hands, the saftey clicked back on, and the weapon thrown onto the floor, all by what appeared to be thin air. 

Geoff smiled and rolled up his sleeves, feeling his tattoos burst free from his skin as soon as the cloth was gone, dancing through the air. Black map lines and blue waves shot at the would-be robber, coiling around his chest and arms, effectively pinning him to the counter. He snorted at the terrified look on the kid's face as a loop wrapped around his head to keep him from crying out. It was almost too easy to stop him, not nearly worth the trouble that he was going through.

He glanced back up at the mirror, hoping to still see that Hispanic kid lurking behind his attempted robber. He frowned when the reflection showed nothing but his own annoyed face staring back at him along with a struggling teen ( _not that it would do him any good, Geoff had tested how good a hold his tats had on the Company and his ink was much tougher than it looked like this_ ) and an empty convenience store.

He heard the sirens of the police cars rapidly growing closer and muttered "Well this is irritating as dicks..."

This really wasn't his fucking week was it?

-.-

Ray ran out of the store as soon as he could. He rubbed his hands together and bit his lips so hard he had friction burns on his hands and he could taste blood in his mouth. His heart thudded quickly in his chest and his mind whirled with thoughts of ' _Oh, God, did that really happen? I could have **died** oh God what the fuck is going on?_'

He managed to speed walk up to Michael, who was trying to get every last drop of gas he could into his tank, and waved, getting nothing in reply. The blood drained from Ray's face at his best friend's lack of response. Was he still invisible? He took a deep breath and concentrated, willing himself to become visible, for people to see him again. "Holy fuck! Ray, where the hell did you come from?" Michael shouted jumping as Ray seemed to come out of nowhere. His mixed surprise and annoyance quickly gave way to concern at the sight of Ray's pale face and lack of snacks, "Hey man, you alright? You look like you saw something that scared the shit outta you..."

Ray opened his mouth to talk, but closed it and nervously shook his head. He quickly and silently climbed into the passenger seat, whispering, "Let's just go, please Michael." Michael looked like he wanted to force Ray to talk about what happened, but seeing Ray's face, he only nodded and he put the car in drive, quickly putting distance between the gas station and the rapidly approaching police sirens.

"What the hell's going on back there?" Michael muttered. He glanced at Ray worriedly, but all the Puerto Rican could muster up was a half-hearted shrug.

He was still recovering from the shock. He had almost _died._ How in all of heaven and hell had he survived that?  

He didn't have all the answers, but at least he now had an idea of who would: That guy at the gas station.

He was like Ray. He had some sort of... power. It looked like he could make his tattoos, hidden under his sleeves, to life. If anyone had answers for Ray, it was most likely gonna be him. Ray just wasn't sure if he could go back there anytime soon.

He figured that he would have to though.

-.-

The call to the Company came in a few hours after the attempted robbery was thwarted. They got there just as the regular police were moving out, the man responsible for the disturbance already shoved into the back of a police car. Admittedly it was a late call and the police had already made it into a huge deal before they could put it under wraps. Fortuately, they had Castillo and O'Doherty dressed as cops and, to Hullum's knowledge, they had already taken care of the guy's memories of Ramsey's powers. Now they just had to deal with the media that the cops' mere presence seemed to summon.

When they arrived, there were small groups of press people already there, trying to get the attention of the heavily tattooed man that was glaring at them from the doorway of the store, daring them to come closer. It was very obvious that he was not in a good mood. Fortunately, Hullum's job made talking to a pissy twenty-something year old a breeze, powers or not.

He stepped out of the car, and sighed, knocking on the back windows, "Hey. Bragg, Dooley, if you're done making out like horny teenagers back there, we have to go talk to Ramsey now." Moments later, looking a bit flushed and their hair slighty mussed up, two more men popped out of the car, stumbling over each other in their haste to get out of the car.

"Men" might have been a little too generous for these two however.

They were barely out of high school. Actually, he was almost certain that they both had dropped out of school when they had discovered their powers. They both still had the childish spark in their eyes whenever they got the chance to use their powers which only added to his theory.

Hullum usually regretted bringing them along, but more often than not by the end of the day, they had both proven their worth. Honestly though, the whole "one of us, one of them" thing with two of "them" and only one of him seemed a bit unfair. If Bostonian Jeremy and resident Austinite Matt weren't practically fused at the fucking hip, he would have argued against it. 

Matt huffed, pouting at his earlier remark, "Hey, we're moving, we're moving! There's no need to be a fucking grouch about it."

Hullum's eyes wandered to where Jeremy's hand was clasped around the back of Matt's jacket. He made a low humming sound and rolled his eyes. If they weren't so good in the field he would seriously file a complaint about how their little relationship was a disadvantage to the Company.

"Geoffrey Ramsey, works part-time at a gas station convenience store. Likes to program games in his spare time, as well as help anyone with abilities, the latter a newer development. Ink manipulation and low level power suppression. He has the ability to bring his tattoos to life, whether it be just on his skin or physically. It's similar to Cwierz's power, except, at the end of the day, it's still just ink. He can't actually breathe life into his tattoos." Hullum rattled off leading the two towards the crowd of reporters.

Matt nodded rolling his shoulders "And we need to do what, exactly? Bag and tag? Just talk to him?"

Jeremy interrupted Matt with a wry smile, "I don't think this is such a good time if kidnapping is our goal, boss."

Hullum shook his head and snorted "No, we've already caught this one before. He's labeled as a potential ally with mid-level abilities. Not an immediate threat. We're just here to keep the media off of him."

"That's all?" Matt asked. "If it's just about the media then I don't really see the point of us," he gestured between himself and Jeremy, "being here..."

"You know the motto Bragg: One of us, one of them. And besides," Hullum remarked darkly, as they neared their target, "Things might get complicated if Marquis or Demarias show up."

"What about Miles or Kerry?" Matt asked. "They've been under the radar for about a week now. We think they're somewhere near Las Vegas. Why, we have no idea but we know it's not for gambling."

Jeremy looked like he was going to add something else to the conversation, but they were brought to a halt with the acidic look that Geoff sent their way. The tattooed man growled "Oh, abso-fucking-lutely not. I am **not**  drunk enough to handle you shit heads right now."

Matt smiled tightly at him "It's good to see you again, Geoffrey."

"It's Geoff and yeah, excuse me if I can't exactly return the sentiment right now." He glared over at the media liaisons that were still in a clustered group a few feet away. If Hullum didn't know any better, he would have said that they were scared of the tattooed man that stood with his arms crossed and a glare on his face.  They were scared for a really good reason though.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Geoff snapped, glancing over at Matt and Jeremy, "And who the fuck are they?"

Hullum jerked a thumb at the duo and said "The short one is Jeremy.The taller one is Matt." The remark made Geoff smile slightly as it earned an indignant "Hey!" from Jeremy and an amused, "Well, he's not wrong about that." from Matt. 

Geoff nodded at them before turning his attention back to Hullum, "Nice to meetcha boys. Thanks for answering my second question Hullum. Now answer the first."

"We're just here to cover up your tracks, make sure nothing gets out about you that's out of the ordinary." Hullum soothingly said. Geoff glanced back at the duo behind him questioningly. Hullum understood what he was asking without saying anything, and quietly told him, "They're here incase Demarias, Marquis, or even both show up."

Geoff's eyes widened slightly before narrowing into a glare, his angry gaze distantly directed at the owners of the two names, "If those two motherfuckers show up," he muttered darkly, the ink on his arms starting to shift and distort wit his anger, "then they're not leaving here unless it's in fucking body bags." 

He snapped as he poked Hullum in the chest, his tattoos seeming to flow downwards, gathering closer to his hands. “And as for you, what if I **want** something to get out about me? What are you going to do then?”

Hullum’s face lost its faux cheeriness as he seriously said, “Then we’d have to call off all media coverage and take you into custody.”

Geoff snorted at that and sneered “Yeah, as if you fuckers could hold me. Don’t you remember what happened last time you Company assholes tried to do that?”

Hullum closed his eyes and silently counted to ten, while Matt and Jeremy looked at each other confused, before opening his eyes and slowly saying, “No one's forgotten, Geoff. I think what you need to remember is that you’re not currently marked as a threat. We didn’t lose anything by letting you go but if we have to we-”

Geoff rolled his eyes and said disgusted, “Is that what BS you’ve been spewing now? That you just 'let me go' cuz I wasn't worth keeping?” Hullum frowned slightly as Geoff laughed apathically, “Fine then. Whatever the fuck helps you sleep at night man.”

“Hey, not to be rude or anything,” Jeremy butted in, looking towards the swarm of reporters, “But it looks like someone’s finally got the balls to talk to you ummm Geoff.”

Hullum turned, interested in the fact that there was indeed someone, a young man dressed casually in a red and white striped polo, walking towards them. He took in the appearance of the man, and nodded, not noticing anything out of the ordinary about him.

' _He doesn’t look like a threat._ ' Hullum decided as he turned away, about to give the okay to Geoff for the interview, but stopped midway through the word. It had only been a second, but he had completely forgotten what the man approaching looked like already. It was a miracle that he even remembered that the man was there. “Matt, Jeremy,” he whispered, frozen in place, his hand creeping towards the gun hidden on his belt. “Get ready. It’s Demarais.” 

A blob of shapeless grey matter appeared oozing slightly in Jeremy’s hand immediately, and he unceremoniously tossed it to Matt before summoning up another one. “Really? You sure this is a good idea? There’s too many people here, they’ll see.” Jeremy asked, quickly making more and more blobs for Matt to manipulate.

This was the real good reason that they were always paired together despite them being in a relationship which was dangerous in this line of work. With Jeremy’s ability to create generic matter and Matt’s ability to reshape matter, they made a perfectly complementary team. This was mostly because they were useless alone as Jeremy couldn't shape the matter he made and Matt was limited by the amount of matter that an object already contained. 

Hullum already had his phone out, sending a text to Castillo and O'Doherty who replied swiftly, saying they were on their way. Seamus O'Doherty had the ability to erase, implant fake and see people's memories. He was a fast worker and didn't talk much during missions preferring to observe and react accordingly. Jose Jones, JJ for short, Castillo on the other hand, almost never shut up and was much slower when working, though that made him more thorough than most.

“Seamus’s on memory wipe. We should be fine as long as JJ can take care of the cameras. You two ready?” Hullim said, tucking his phone away. The two nodded almost at the same time even as their hands kept moving, an endless cycle of Jeremy generating matter for Matt to manipulate.

Geoff looked uninterested in what was going on but Hullum had no doubt that he had heard every word of their conversation. The now massive blob of matter in Matt’s hands, roughly the size of a soccer ball, reformed into a net that he threw towards the approaching man.

The man smiled placidly at them despite the slivery net headed for him. Chris Demarais was unnoticeable. As soon as you looked away from him, you forgot he existed at worse, at best you remembered that there was someone there but couldn't ever recall how his face looked. It wasn’t a particularly helpful power to have in combat, but it was a damned bitch when it came to searching for him in a crowd. It was one of the main reasons that the Quartet hadn't been caught yet.

Hullum shook his head, wondering who the hell had decided to call them that. They were nothing but a group that kept trying to make his job difficult. They didn’t deserve a name in his opinion. Good thing the other two members weren’t in the same state currently. Fighting Luna and Shawcross was difficult, to say the least.

Hullum cursed as the net caught itself around a dark haired man that appeared in front of Demarais, a figure that almost immediately vanished, leaving the net to drop uselessly to the ground. Aaron Marquis had two powers: astral projection and empathy projection. It was enough of a bitch dealing with people that only had one ability. Others, Marquis in particular, that had two were even more difficult.

To be fair though, the latter of the two powers was rarely used by Marquis. Hullum had been told that the people in charge of the Company guessed that he either didn’t have the strongest grasp on how to project his emotions at people or it simply took too much energy and concentration to use so he rarely used it.

Hullum pulled out his gun completely, aiming it at Demarais. “Stand down, I don’t want a fight.” Actually, he absolutely did. These assholes had been too much trouble for too long. Demarais smiled and said, his voice light and cheery, "How about no Mr. Hullum?"

His gun was wrenched out of his hand as Marquis’ projection appeared again, grabbing onto his gun, before he disappeared, the weapon clattering to the ground. Matt was already ahead of Hullum’s next order, a long pole of matter that Jeremy gave him in his hand that quickly sharpened into a crude sword. He swung, just barely missing Demarais’ neck as the man danced back a grin spreadig accross his face. Jeremy summoned a larger ball of matter than normal, throwing it so it splattered against Demarais' feet and it was quickly hardened thanks to Matt.

Meanwhile, Hullum felt someone grab at his arms, but when he swung around and pushed at the offender, he cursed to see no one there. Marquis’ main power was probably one of the most aggravating that anyone had to fight against. He didn’t even have to show up for the fight himself!

Hullum glanced to the side, seeing Castillo getting any incriminating footage as the fight went on, and O’Doherty wiping the memory of the last bystander. Geoff had his eyes on the crowd of reporters as if he expected another member of the Quartet to come at him. Hullum swiftly snatched his gun up off of the ground, pointing around, looking for the next time Marquis or one of his doubles would show up.

He heard a yelp from Matt, and he swung around, the gun already cocked and ready to fire. All he saw was cracked matter on the ground, and Demarias nowhere to be seen. Hullum’s grip twitched and the gun went off at the ground. Everyone nearby jumped and yelled wordlessly at him in surprise.

Hullum just growled. How had he let them escape? He was the best agent that the Company had, goddamn it. How had he just let a potential hostage slip out of his grasp like that? ' _They must have a teleporter now._ ' That thought didn’t make him feel any better and just reminded him of the verbal punishment he'd get when he got back to HQ.

“Great job,” Geoff said sarcastically, clapping slowly as Castillo and O’Doherty approached them, “You just let him slip right through your fingertips Hullum. You’re lucky nothing worse happened.”

“I know!” Hullum snapped at him, before repeating, “I know...” even quieter than before. He rubbed a hand over his face and groaned. There was no way this one was getting past Burns. He was gonna have a field day when they got back.

“They got a teleporter,” O’Doherty said unnecessarily. Hullum gave him an unamused look as the memory manipulator added, “I didn’t get a good look at him, but it was some scrawny kid with dark hair and a hoodie. As far as I could tell his only power is teleporting and he was recruited several days ago at most. His name is Aleks Marchant.”

Geoff looked impressed. “You got all that from a glance?” O’Doherty held up what looked like a driver’s license and wryly said, “He dropped this before he teleported away.” Hullum couldn’t help but laugh at that. He grabbed the piece of plastic out of O'Doherty's hand and shoved it into his pocket. “Alright, our work here is done then. O’Doherty, Castillo, you got cleanup?”

“Yeah, we’ve got it. No thanks to you four,” Castillo snapped. He seemed to be at his wits end. It tended to happen to him a lot when working with Hullum.

Hullum just rolled his eyes saying "I'll see about putting the license through the database, see what we get." and headed back towards his car, Matt and Jeremy trailing behind, looking worried at each other. Meanwhile, JJ and Seamus waded into the reporters, making sure their memories were replaced with something more believable and their footage deleted.

Geoff watched them go and sighed, rolling his sleeves back down as he headed back inside the shop. If this wasn't proof that something was wrong with the Company and the Quartet, he didn't know what was...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [blog for this fic](http://letsplayheroes.tumblr.com/)


	2. I Try to Keep Myself Out of Your Bad Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's up everyone, Shinju here! 
> 
> I just wanted to let you guys know that me and Ren (renegadeartist) are aiming for updates that take place every other Saturday or Sunday. This means that after this chapter is posted the Saturday or Sunday after next will be the third chapter and so on. 
> 
> Also, in case anyone was wondering, the story title comes from the song Hero by Skillet, the first chapter title comes from American Noise by Skillet, and this chapter's title comes from David by Noah Gundersen.
> 
> People that show up in this chapter:  
> James Wilson Jr. (CT), Chris Demarais (RT/AH), Aaron Marquis (RT/AH), Aleks Marchant (CT), Gavin Free (RT/AH), Dan Gruchy (RT/AH), Dexter Manning (CT), Michael Jones (RT/AH), Ray Narvaez Jr. (RT/AH), Kerry Shawcross (RT/AH), Miles Luna (RT/AH), Alex Parvis (YOGS), Patrick Rodriguez (RT/AH),

James' hands were trapped awkwardly behind his back, stuck between him and the cruiser seat. The pressure pressed against the metal of the cuffs, digging them into his skin hard enough that he wasn't sure if his hands were damp with his sweat or blood. He didn't smell fresh blood so he guessed it was just sweat but then again the back of the car reeked of all kinds of bodily fluids so he could be wrong.

He glared at the backs of the two officers' heads fuming silently at them. There was really no need for those asshole cops to cuff him like they did in James' opinion. He was just some punk kid who happened to have a gun, and once the weapon was gone, he really didn't pose that much of a threat to anyone.

Especially that clerk with his ninja skills.

In any case, he seriously doubted that these asshats even really cared about protecting the peace, stopping killers and saving lives. They probably just cared about the next paycheck and getting their job done as soon as possible. They probably won't even bother to learn his name for anything more than it would take to convict him.

"What'd you think?" The one in the passenger seat asked the other. He was really short, fat, and ugly. His gravelly voice grated on James' nerves making him want to bang the fucker's head against the door of the cruiser. James gleefully dubbed him 'Shortie the Fat' in his head.

"Dunno. Seems like a standard robbery, petty thieving, to me. Probably wanted money to buy video games." The other one said, his voice high and whiney, making James want to bang his **own** head against the partition between him and the cops. The asswipe had his greasy-looking, over producted hair pulled back into a low ponytail that showed a rather lame tattoo of a skull behind his ear. He was dubbed 'Ponytail the Greasy' with a sneer in James'  mind.

Meanwhile, his blood started to boil at the casual tone of Ponytail's voice, at the condescension dripping from Shortie's words. Neither one of them even cared about the teenager that they had in the backseat. They didn't give a rat's ass about him in the least.

"James Wilson Jr," Shortie said, looking down as he read what they apparently had on him on a tablet that he had with him, "18 years old, Multiple counts of theft, vandalism, and physical violence. This kid's pretty fucking messed up. That guy at the gas station's lucky he caught this one. I don't want to think about where that sap would be if he hadn't defended himself."

James scoffed glaring out the window at the woods they were driving past. Like they knew what happened in the old store, so old it had no cameras. It wasn't like they knew or even wanted to know the reason he tried stealing from that place. They didn't even really care about what his name was past what they needed for their paperwork and the dirt they could pull up about him from the Internet in case they needed to take him to court.

Ponytail's head whipped back to glare at him. "What're you laughin' about, punk?" 

"Keep you eyes on the road rookie," Shortie snapped, twisting around to glare at James, "I'll handle this." James snorted again as Shortie demanded "What're you laughing about?"

James shrugged, a cruel smile forming on his face even if he wished it wouldn't. He leaned in close to the partition and sneered "Nothin' Shortie. Just wondering what you've gotta do in your life to land yourself in such a shitty position." He looked meaningfully at Ponytail "Accompanying rookies? Arresting teenagers? Don't you think you could do better than th-?"

He felt his face get knocked back into the seat and the skin of his upper lip and cheek break open, spilling hot blood down his cheek and chin. It stung, but the anger that their words caused had gone down considerably from his comment. It was worth it.

"How about you shut your mouth ya fucking twerp?" Shortie practically shouted. Ponytail shouted over Shortie, grabbing his wrist to stop him from abusing James further, "Hey, you'll get probation if you do that again! You know the chief doesn't like it when we rough up criminals!" Shortie rolled his eyes and snapped, tugging his hand out of Ponytail's grip,"Keep your eyes on the road rookie! Besides, we can just say that he got punched by that guy at the gas station. No big deal."

"So you're not below abusing kids rather than protecting them, huh?" James asked snidely, and he frowned when he didn't get the reaction he was expecting. He expected the cop to blow up at him, to yell at him and throw a fit.

Instead Shortie's face became eerily calm, and he sat back in his seat, no longer facing James.

"James Wilson," he said again to Ponytail, as if James wasn't right there and could hear everything, "I wonder why he's so keen on pushing the law? Maybe he's got an absent mother, an abusive father. Maybe one or both of his parents are alcoholics or druggies. Maybe he just wants attention like a spoiled brat and the only way he can think to get it is by ridiculous stunts that end with him in the back of a police car."

As he spoke, James's vision became clouded in red and his stomach twisted itself in knots trying to keep his anger at bay. How dare this cop, this absolute stranger, make assumptions about his life, about what he's done and why. The worst part, at least in James's eyes, was that it wasn't even that far from the truth.

He heard the cop take in a breath to continue, and that was when the rage that had been bubbling inside of him finally broke free.

"Shut up! _SHUT UP! **SHUT UP**!!_ " He shrieked. He felt light-headed as he felt his voice carry through the air, smashing the windows of the car. The windows suddenly shattering startled Ponytail, causing him to swerve off the road and crash into a tree. James felt himself get thrown every which way before the car settled. He pushed the door to the cruiser which had popped open with one shoulder and stumbled out, his hands still cuffed behind his back.

He lay on the ground for a few moments, dazed and confused. He had no idea what had happened, but he knew that he had to get away before someone noticed the wreck of the car. He awkwardly got up and kicked the crumpled driver's side door open, and leaned backwards to grab at the keys he had seen hanging from Ponytail's belt. He managed to grab them- no small feat with his hands still behind his back- and then bolted, running as fast as he could away from the car and whatever the hell he had just managed to do just now and fled deep into the woods.

All he knew as he ran, stumbling since his hands were still behind his back, was that he was now free, but now there was a very high possibility that he would be in for more than just petty theft if the cops caught him again. He had to stop and lean against a tree, gagging at the thought of even accidentally killing someone. As much as he hated the fuckers, he hadn't wanted them to die.

James straightened up and looked back the way he came before starting to move forwards again. He didn't have the option to go back home anymore. 

So where could he go now?

-.-

Aleks cursed sending Chris and Aaron a quick text saying that the kid who had tried robbing Ramsey, and got his memory wiped by the Company, just manifested powers of his own and was on the run. They both quickly send him a text back, ordering him to follow him and keep the cops away from the kid as they made their way to his location. Alcks agreed and teleported after the other guy. After a certain point the teen started hitting into trees more as he got more and more exhausted. Finally, he seemed to give up after he fell to the ground at one point and just laid there gasping for air. 

Aleks hesitated, not sure what he should do, until he heard the guy starting to sob. He nodded to himself and teleported over to the guy, purposefully stepping in the leaves to let him know he was there. The guy's crying quieted down to just him breathing unsteadily as Aleks knelt next to him.

They stayed there in silence for a few moments before the guy snapped at Aleks, his voice cracking "Well what are you waiting for? Just shoot me or take me off to jail or something!" Aleks gently touched his shoulder as he slowly took the keys, clenched tightly in the scared kid's blood smeared hands, from him. The guy froze as he carefully unlocked the cuffs and softly said "They really fucked you up huh?" He grimaced at the sight of bloody lines on his wrists where the cuffs had torn them up.

As soon as the other guy's hands were uncuffed, he abruptly pushed off of the ground and screamed at Aleks " _ **GO AWAY!**_ " Aleks yelped as he was flung into the air by the force of the yell but teleported before he hit the ground onto a branch overhead. He watched the guy look around wildly for him as Aleks accessed the damages that his scream had caused to the forest.

There were a number of downed trees and others that were lopsided from the force. Entire bushes and brambles had been ripped up by the scream. There was an obvious path made in the leaves coating the forest floor moving away from where the guy was standing. All in all, it looked like someone had taken a really high powered leaf blower to the area.

"Wow...That's actually pretty cool! Fucking Skyrim'd the shit outta me!" Aleks cheerfully said making him look up at him in shock. "H-How'd you...?" The guy said, visibly confused. Aleks teleported down, keeping a careful distance from him, "I'm like you. Only rather than being able to Fus-Ro-Dah my way out of tight squeezes, I'm more like a Wizard from Harry Potter, popping in and out of places, you know?"

Aleks offered him a hand "I'm Aleksander Marchant. You can call me Aleks." The guy eyed him before cautiously taking his hand "James...James Wilson Jr." Aleks beamed at him "Nice to meet you James!"

Aleks' phone chirped alerting him that he got a text. "Hang on." He pulled out his phone and read out loud "'In parking lot, waiting for you and our new friend. -Chris'" James looked suspicious "What the fuck does that mean?" 

Aleks grinned at him and offered him his hand again "There are these guys who explained everything to me and they want to give you an offer too."  James said, obviously a bit scared, "A-An offer?"

Aleks nodded and softly said "You don't really have somewhere to go now do you? Chris and Aaron can give you a place to stay. A place where there are more people like us." James hesitated as he added "Just come with me, talk with them, and see if you want to stay okay? We won't force you." James sighed and mumbled "What the hell, I'm fucked either way..." before he took Aleks hand.

Aleks grinned and the next moment there was nothing left of them besides a ripped up forest, a bloodied pair of handcuffs, and the sound of sirens in the distance...

-.-

"Come on, B, throw the ball already."

"Ok, calm down I'm doing it," Dan snapped, rolling the basketball from one hand to the other. The cracked concrete below them gave way to weed and all around them what looked like centuries old trees towered. While Gavin's powers didn't leave much behind, Dan's power was quite the opposite. "Ready?" Gavin nodded, bracing himself and summoning the energy needed. "One, two..."

Dan threw the ball, and it practically shot from his hands at an impossible speed. This time Gavin was ready and he thrust his hands out, stopping the ball in midair. He jumped in delight, shouting, "Did you see that, B? I did it that time!"

"Cheers, B, I knew you could do it." Dan grinned and grabbed the ball out of the air. It had been a few weeks since they discovered they had abilities. It had been a little scary, at first, but once they had found out that the other could do things too it became unbelievably fun. They had taken to hanging out at an old basketball court that had long since been abandoned, where they didn't have to worry in the slightest about people seeing them.

While Gavin could slow down time, Dan could speed it up. He'd accidentally aged the concrete a few years, crumbling and cracking it in some places, the first time they'd tried to practice. A few days later he had been ecstatic about the fact that he could make plants grow almost instantaneously, surrounding the court with a practical grove of trees that looked like they had been there forever. Gavin had practiced what he liked to call his "Slow-mo hands." He was getting better at it, and so far he could almost pause the time of an object. He was working on slowing down time in general and, he hoped, eventually pausing it, but so far it was spotty at best.

Gavin glanced up at his friend. He was frowning, staring at the ball in his hand. "You alright, B?"

He sighed. "Yeah, it's just... I'm gonna miss you, Gav."

Gavin walked over and put a hand on Dan's shoulder. "Yeah I'm gonna miss you to. It's only for a few months, though. And we can text each other. It's not like we're going to be cut off from all contact for ten years or something." 

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Dan sighed just as Gavin's phone vibrated. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the text. He sighed and smiled sheepishly at Dan.

"I have to go. My flight leaves in a few hours." He stepped closer to Dan, hugging him tightly. Dan wrapped his arms around Gavin, nearly suffocating him with his strong grip.

"Good luck in America, B. I'll see you in a few months. Text me as soon as you get there." Gavin grinned and hit him on the arm playfully.

"Yeah, you know I will." He gave Dan another quick hug before running in the direction he knew his mom would be waiting for him in her car. He jumped in the passenger seat, immediately twisting around and rooting through the bags he'd packed for his trip.

"Did you say goodbye to Daniel, Gavin?" His mom asked, looking more than a little annoyed at her son messing with the bags she'd packed as well as she could. Gavin didn't bother to look at her, he just nodded. He sat back down in his seat when he decided that everything was where it should be and he wouldn't be missing anything in America.

"Who'm I staying with again?" He asked, buckling his seatbelt as his mother started the car.

"You're staying with the Jones's. They've got two children, one of which is your age. If I remember correctly his name is Michael, and he's going to be the one picking you up at the airport." She glanced over at Gavin. "Please, Gavin, try to be nice to people."

"Wot? I'm always nice to people!" He squawked indignantly. His mother just made a low humming sound and shook her head...

-.-

Dex kicked the stones that made up the road in front of him. He was just walking, looking for something that he hadn't seen before. He was starting to get bored with the monotonous routines that made up his daily life.

Plus, he just really didn't want to study.

So, instead, he'd decided to take a walk. The road stopped abruptly in front of him and he looked up, confused, seeing huge trees towering above him. His eyebrows furrowed as he mumbled "Wot the bloody hell...?" He'd been this way plenty of times before. There was no way that those trees had always been there.

He ran a hand over the bark of the nearest one as he wound his way around the trunks. The bark was old and scarred, pitted and cracked with age. The ground under the trees was dry and crumbling and the grass was strangely tall, up to his knees at least.

It was like someone hit fast forward and suddenly the world was nothing like he remembered it.

As he walked he started to hear voices drifting through the trees. "Ready?" A voice said, just as he managed to find a break to the tall trees. "One, two..."

He felt his eyes widen as he saw two kids, probably not even out of high school, standing face to face, a basketball seemingly frozen in the air in front of them. One of the kids, one with crazy hair and arms outstretched, cheered, "Did you see that, B? I did it that time!"

The other one nodded, and Dex ducked behind a tree as the kid's eyes wandered to where he was hiding. "Cheers, B, I knew you could do it."

Eventually the kid with the crazy hair left, apparently going to America for one reason or another. That left the other one still there. Dex peaked at him through the branches, but he felt his foot catch onto a root and he pitched forward, spitting profanities almost loud enough to be heard from London. The kid dropped the ball he was holding in surprise and he looked at Dex wide-eyed ready to bolt.

"Wait!" Dex shouted, trying to scramble back to his feet. He sucked in a sharp breath when he felt a stinging in his elbow. He looked down and saw blood staining the sleeve, the skin torn where he'd fallen. "I didn't mean to... to scare you. I just... wasn't sure how to say hi."

The kid didn't look like he trusted him. "You could have just said hi."

"Well, yeah, I guess so," he said rubbing his head awkwardly. "That thing you did with the ball was cool, though." This time the kid did run, and Dex just stood there stunned for a few seconds. Was it really worth getting that worked up about? It was just some high-level magic trick or something, right? He shrugged before deciding to head back home.

Apparently while he had been distracted by the kid,  it had gotten late, later then he'd expected. Already the sun was going down and the streets were virtually empty. He really didn't like being outside this late. He didn't exactly live in the best part of the city, and this near the college meant the streets were full of kids trying to escape exams or looking for a way to unwind. Essentially, it was not a good idea to be out after the sun went down.

He heard footsteps and whispering behind him and suddenly he felt something poke into his back. He froze, glancing sideways trying to see what it was. He saw a clearly drunk man, an empty bottle of booze in one hand and a knife in the other. "Giv' me ya m'ney," he slurred, and honestly Dex would have laughed, had the situation not been life threatening. He felt the man grab his shoulder and spin him around, the knife now dangerously close to his chest.

Dex dug into his pockets, only to find that he had nothing but his phone and his keys to his apartment with him. He tried to shove the drunk away from him, only succeeding in making him shout angrily and lash out with the knife, cutting a thin line across Dex's cheek.

Without thinking Dex found himself rushing forward, his hand shooting out and catching the man in the stomach. At least, it was supposed to be his hand. It looked more like a knife as it sunk in between the clothes, quickly staining them red. He wrenched his hand back in shock, leaping back as the man toppled forward.

He stared at his hand in shock. From the wrist up rather than a hand he had the blade of a knife, the same kind of knife that the drunk tried stabbing him with. As he watched it seemed to wobble and shift spreading out into his hand again, streaked in the drunk's blood. 

Dex pulled his phone out quickly and called for emergency services, though his blood slick fingers and shaking hands made that hard to do. All the while his mind was reeling, trying to process what had just happened. He was starting to think that maybe the floating basketball had a little more depth to it then he though before.

He was quickly found by the paramedics and gave them a fake story of how the drunk stabbed himself with his blade when he pushed them. He, and everyone else in the area for that matter never noticed a dark haired man smiling approvingly at Dex before vanishing like a ghost...

-.-

Michael wanted to ram a rod through his head so he didn't have to endure another moment of this. He was sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair, the PA system spouting out numbers and places in a monotone voice, telling him that this flight was cancelled or leaving two hours late, and he really just wanted everything to stop for a few hours. He was tired, he had a headache, and he really didn't want to host some British twink for a few months. He glanced next to him, seeing Ray's head nod as he started to fall asleep. Michael blinked and rubbed his eyes. It looked like Ray was slowly fading out of existence, like the edges of his body were just not there anymore.

"Hey, Ray, wake up," he said, shoving him in the shoulder. "You're not leaving me to endure this on my own." Ray's head shot up and Michael had to stifle his laughter at his mussed up hair and disoriented eyes.

Michael felt a tap on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where terminal..." the guy looked at the paper in his hand, "A25 is?"

Michael shook his head. "No, but if you follow the signs you should be able to find it."

The guy nodded, his short blond hair bouncing. He looked weirdly young even though Michael could tell that he was an adult. "Thanks, I appreciate it." He stuck out his hand and Michael cautiously took it, feeling a queer tingling sensation run up his arm like pins and needles,  "I'm Kerry, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Michael," he said slowly, not quite sure what to make of this stranger that had walked up to them and found the need to introduce himself. He turned to Ray and held out his hand.

"Uh... no thank you?" Ray said, looking like he was trying to force himself through the chair he was sitting in. He was clearly uncomfortable. The guy just shrugged and walked away "See you round!"

"That was fucking weird," Michael muttered and Ray nodded. He glanced up and noticed a rather large group of people walk into the waiting area. There was someone who was obviously supposed to be the supervisor holding up a sign that had the UK's flag printed on it.

"Hey," Ray said unnecessarily, "I think one of those is yours."

Michael got up with an exaggerated sigh and wandered toward the group. The person he was looking for was named Gavin, as far as he could remember, Gavin Free. He scanned the crowd, reading the names on the name tags that each one of them wore.

Ray tapped his shoulder and pointed to one of them, a scrawny kid with wild, wheat colored hair, green eyes, and a fucking huge nose. Michael smothered a laugh at the thought that his nose was big enough to have a colony of people live on it. His name tag said "Gavin Free," in messy handwriting.

Michael pulled out the paperwork from his backpack and handed it to the supervisor. She smiled at him and nodded, pointing Gavin out to him. He guessed that people were a little more trusting in the UK. He walked over and tapped on the kid's shoulder. He gave out a squawk and swung around, his eyes landing on Michael.

"Oh, hullo," he said in a thick accent. "Are you who I'm staying with?"

Michael rolled his eyes and glanced back at Ray. He just shrugged. "Yeah, I am. Michael Jones, the Puerto Rican fuck over there is Ray. He's staying the night at my house so you'll have plenty of time to talk. Let's get going." He turned, glancing back just in time to see Gavin struggling with his bags.

Ray walked over to him, grabbing one of the bags and started pulling it after Michael. Gavin whispered to him, "He's a vulgar one, innit' he?"

Ray smiled. "Yeah, yeah he is. Don't worry, though, he's not that bad once you get to know him."

-.-

Kerry wandered over to where Miles was leaning against the wall next to a dark haired man with bandages wrapped around his wrists, the guy they had gone to Vegas to find. "Did you get it?" Miles asked casually, tilting his head. The other guy spoke, his voice cheery with a British accent, "Did he try using his powers to sneak out of your grasp?"

Kerry shook his head. "No, he just wouldn't shake my hand and I didn't really want to force him to. Buuut," Kerry said, grinning and holding up his hand, small orange flames springing to life and dancing harmlessly against his skin, "I got the curly haired one's power instead."

Miles looked slightly impressed by Kerry's newfound power. It was interesting, to say the least, to have a partner that could copy other people's abilities. "Too bad you didn't get the invisibility. That would have been helpful."

"Yeah, but it's not nearly as cool as fire," Kerry said flippantly. The dark haired guy grinned fingering his bandages "Or blood bending." Miles rolled his eyes "I thought you said you weren't gonna call it that anymore Parvis..." Parvis grinned and shrugged "Wot can I say? It's fitting."

Kerry chuckled as Miles pouted at him "Come on you two. Chris and Aaron said they snagged not just one, but two new guys while we were gone!" 

-.-

Gavin stared at the ceiling, not really able to fall asleep. Dan was busy with school work and refused to respond to his texts. He probably knew that it was almost midnight in America and didn't want to keep Gavin up. Sometimes he really hated how considerate Dan was. He heard Ray snoring somewhere on an inflatable mattress next to him, and he glanced over, blinking in surprise when he didn't see anything on the mattress besides the blanket that Ray was sleeping on top of. He sat up, looking around the room to try to see where Ray had gone.

His gaze landed on a stand-up mirror near them, seeing his face reflected back at him. The more interesting thing, however, was that the mirror reflected Ray as well. He was sleeping on the bed, just like Gavin had thought, but the edges of his body were fuzzy, as if they were dissolving into the air. He turned back around, still not seeing Ray, and crawled forward, reaching his hand out to poke where he guessed Ray's shoulder was.

He felt his hand come into contact with what felt like a shirt, and he gripped it and shook, whispering, "Ray, wake up!"

In an instant Ray seemed to materialize in front of him, twisting around on the bed to try to glare at him. "What the hell do you want, Gavin?"

His face split into a huge grin, excitement bubbling in his chest. "You're like me!" He practically shouted, and Ray shushed him. "You're like me," he said, quieter this time, though his grin didn't shrink even a little bit.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ray asked, still disorientated from being woken up so abruptly.

"You can turn invisible," Gavin said, and the blood drained from Ray's face. He looked like he was about to panic, but Gavin grabbed the glass of water from the bedside table and tipped it over, spilling the water onto the floor. He concentrated, and let go of the cup, the water and the glass suspended in midair, seemingly frozen. "You're like me," he said again, and this time Ray seemed to understand.

"You have an ability," he whispered. "L-like me."

Gavin nodded vigorously. "Yeah! I can manipulate time! I can only slow it down, though. I have a friend back home, my B Dan, who can speed it up, it's really cool. He can make a forest grow in seconds!"

Ray grinned crookedly at Gavin, sitting up in bed. "I can turn invisible and intangible."

"You're like a ghost," Gavin whispered, sitting down next to Ray, trying desperately to keep his excitement under control. "That's so cool!" He gushed, and the water that had been suspended in the air fell, the cup clattering to the ground. "Whoops," Gavin muttered sheepishly, the water already being absorbed into the carpet. He glanced at Ray, saying, "Uh, that wasn't me, if anyone asks." Ray just let out a bark of laughter and nodded.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Ray whispered, "Uh, Gavin, there's someone that I want to visit," Gavin raised an eyebrow and made a go on motion. What did that have to do with anything?

"He's like me, well, like us. He can manipulate his tattoos, make them come to life. I met him today. He... he stopped a robber in his store. I... almost got shot."

Gavin gasped in surprise, looking worriedly at Ray. "I'm fine, intangibility, remember? But I didn't get the chance to talk to him, and I really want to. I think I'm going to find him tomorrow and talk to him."

"Why are you telling me this?" Gavin asked, genuinely confused.

"Because if everything goes well with him then I want you to come with me if I ever visit him again. Maybe he could help us, Gav. He has powers, and he obviously knows how to use them. Maybe he can teach us how to use our powers."

"But I'm teaching myself," Gavin cut in, more then a little bit proud. "I learned everything from practicing with Dan. What can some stranger do to help me?"

"I don't know," Ray said, sounding a little deflated, "But it's worth a shot."

"I guess so," Gavin muttered, hearing someone walking down the stairs towards where they were supposed to be sleeping. Gavin scurried back into his bed and closed his eyes, surprised when he actually managed to fall asleep seconds later...

-.-

Patrick stepped away from the canvas, a confused look on his face as he snapped out of what his mom used to call his "art trance". It had been happening a lot more frequently as of late, but he hadn't remembered painting what was now displayed clearly in front of him. It was the image of three men: two of them in profile, one taller and the other shorter, as they looked at each other and the third was looking over his shoulder at Patrick. All of them were standing outside of a door that looked strangely like his own. It even was the same green color and had the same numbers, 636, on it.

He reached over to grab a wet cloth and wiped the paint from his hands just as someone knocked on his door. He quickly put his things away, making sure the paints were all capped and the still damp brushes wouldn't stain anything too badly. He tripped his way to the door, glancing around at the strange things that he had started painting without warning. There was one of a kid wearing a hoodie, sitting at the back of a police car. Another was of an old obviously abandoned basketball court surrounded by giant trees. There were an increasing number of paintings of a high school dance for a local school.

He pulled the door open and was met with three faces that he recognized, if not from prior experience. They were the faces he had drawn, standing outside his door, even in the same positions: the shortest man on the far right looking up at his taller friend in the middle and on the far left was the third man glancing over his shoulder.

Patrick gulped, his mind struggling to process what it meant.

"Hello," the older man said, turning back to smile kindly at Patrick, "I think we have a lot to talk about Mr. Rodriguez..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [blog for this fic](http://letsplayheroes.tumblr.com/)


	3. Excuses are a Waste of Precious Breath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter's a little late. We had some problems writing certain parts of the chapter. Song for this chapter: I'm So Sorry by Imagine Dragons
> 
> People that show up in this chapter:  
> James Wilson Jr. (CT), Aleks Marchant (CT), Jordan Mathewson (CT), Daniel Gidlow (CT), Chris Demarais (RT/AH), Aaron Marquis (RT/AH), Ross O'Donovan (GG), Kerry Shawcross (RT/AH), Miles Luna (RT/AH), Alex Parvis (YOGS), Ryan Haywood (RT/AH), Jon Risinger (RT/AH), Barry Kramer (GG), Ray Narvaez Jr. (RT/AH), Arin Hanson (GG), Geoff Ramsey (RT/AH), Dan Avidan (GG), Patrick Rodriguez (RT/AH), Matt Hullum (RT/AH), Jeremy Dooley (RT/AH), Matt Bragg (RT/AH)

As soon as James had solid ground beneath his feet, he leaned to the side and dry heaved. Distantly he heard Aleks say, over the sound of him retching, "Whoops! Sorry about that! First few times people teleport with me, it tends to make them nauseous. Even I almost blew chunks the first couple times I teleported!"

James shot him a glare and growled, "Why didn't you say so before you did that?" Aleks shrugged, looking apologetic, though that didn’t help his twisting stomach. He kind of wanted to punch him in the face, honestly. Or maybe shout at him. That would do significantly more damage.

"Forgot?" Aleks nervously chuckled as James gave him a withering look and almost, _almost_ **shout** -shouted at him. His attention was wrenched away from the teleporting asshole as a car pulled into the parking garage where they had ended up at and parked close to them.

A guy wearing a red Cardinals hat got out of the driver's side and shouted over, waving cheerfully, "Hey Aleks!" Aleks grinned, and walked over, James following close behind him. Another guy wearing a Batman t-shirt climbed out of the other side and started to pull grocery bags out of the back seat.

"Who're you?" The guy with the hat asked James. Honestly, at a glance, he looked like a real wimp. He was all limbs, with awkward pointy elbows and tall legs. There was something about the way he stood, though, that made James rethink his opinion of the man.

"James Wilson," he replied, eying him warily. "Who the fuck are you?" The other guy laughed and offered James a hand. He didn’t take it and just glared at the offending man. That only made him laugh harder as he grinned at him. 

"Jordan Mathewson." James glanced at Aleks who was helping the other guy unload the car before rolling his eyes and begrudgingly taking the hand that was still lingering in front of him.

"So what is it that you can do?" Jordan asked him. James bristled, not quite ready to spill all his secrets before Jordan did.

He shuffled a bit, his curiosity breaking through his annoyed visage, and snapped "What about you? I mean that Aleks guy teleports and he said that everyone is different..."

Jordan grinned, and James swore that the fucker had been expecting his question, before walking a bit away saying, "Just watch kiddo."

Aleks sighed and muttered "Here we go again..." from behind James. Jordan stopped about ten feet from the car and winked at James before crouching and putting his hands flat on the ground. Sparks flew and steam wafted away from him as he slowly stood up, the ground following his hands up into two sharp spikes. James blinked rapidly before frowning, suddenly feeling a bit inferior.

It was like a fucking contest of measuring-

"Show off!" The guy wearing the Batman shirt called out to Jordan, cutting off James' train of thought. 

Jordan flipped him off saying "Thanks a bunch, Dan!" He then smirked smugly at James and said, "Beat that newbie." James growled and stomped over to the side so that the two spikes were in a row, no longer feeling intimidated by this asshole.

"Jordan? You might wanna get out of there!" Aleks called out in warning. James couldn’t help but smirk at the other boy’s frightened look. Jordan ran back over to the other two swiftly as James glared at the spike in front of him, imagining Jordan's smug face on it. He took a deep breath.

" ** _FUCK. YOU!_** " James screamed. The force of his scream broke the one spike and sent it flying into the other before they ended up embedded in a nearby wall, inches away from Alek’s face. Or, where it used to be. He felt a clap on the back and received a thumbs up from Aleks, who ad teleported next to him.

He gave a shaky grin first at the destruction he caused then at Aleks. He jumped when someone clapped from behind him. He turned to stare at a dark haired guy who smiled at him. James eyed him warily, getting a really bad vibe from this guy.

"You must be James. I'm Aaron Marquis." The guy said warmly to James, motioning for him to come over to him, "You gotta be exhausted and hungry. Let's get you settled in and then we can have dinner." 

James nodded and took a few steps before looking back at the other three unloading the car. While he didn’t particularly like them, Jordan especially, he liked them a whole helluva lot more than Aaron.

Aaron reassured him, "It's okay. They'll get the groceries in and Aleks will get you when dinner's ready." He had clearly misinterpreted his look. He followed Aaron cautiously into the office building that the parking garage was attached to.

Somewhere along the way, Aaron decided it was a good idea to start talking, "This floor and the floor just below us is where we're all staying. The first floor is kept empty and booby-trapped,” James wondered briefly why they needed booby-traps, “while the floor where we are headed, floor 2, has our kitchen, dining room, hang-out room, work room, and our meeting room."

Aaron explained as he led him to an elevator, "The floors above the fourth floor, floors 5 and 6, are all storage and both the top floor and the roof are for look-out in case we get attacked." James again wondered who would attack them. 

"I’m not going to remember all that,” James said instead as they traveled in the elevator down a couple floors. Aaron smiled and patted his shoulder, "You'll get the hang of it."

The doors opened to a slightly exhausted looking man wearing a baggy hoodie and holding a steaming mug of what smelled like coffee in one hand. His eyes shot open, seeing the elevator was occupied and James saw that there was a moment of panic in them as the stranger's eyes landed on Aaron.

James felt something inside him shift, and he wasn’t sure what it was but it didn't feel immediately bad so he gnored it for now. The man’s eyes then found James', and his eyebrows furrowed as he said, his accent odd and hard to place, “Who the fuck’re you?”

“Ross, don’t be rude,” Aaron chided, smiling, and Ross sent him a sideways look that was equal part annoyed glare and watchful caution.

“I’ll do what I fucking want,” he muttered, and James was fairly certain Aaron didn’t hear him judging from his lack of reaction. He sighed and looked at James, saying, “I’m Ross. Ross O’Donovan. If you want to know what my ability is, just try to use yours around me.” He shot Aaron another glance before starting to turn away muttering, “I’ll just take the stairs.”

“Ross is a power negator,” Aaron explained, as his phone rang, “Oh, hang on. I’ve got a business call." He stepped out of the elevator and pushed Ross gently into the elevator with James "Feel free to explore, just don’t go above the fourth floor right now. We’ve got someone on cool-down now, wouldn’t want you to get hurt.” He waved and walked off as the elevator doors closed.

Ross sighed grumbling softly to himself as he punched a button for the third floor. James asked as the elevator moved upwards "Cool-down?" Ross said "You had a headache and felt sick until I showed up right?" James nodded "Yeah actually..."

"If we overuse or try suppressing our powers, we end up over-loading ourselves. We basically have a system meltdown." Ross explained as the elevator stopped and they got out. James frowned as Ross added "Right now, Chris is up there cooling off since he got into a fight earlier with the Company assholes..." 

"The Company?" James asked.

Ross sighed again and said, opening a door with his name on it, "Here, I'll explain shit to you before dinner..."

-.-

Ryan heard the door to the break room slam shut and looked up from his phone to watch a disgruntled Jon walk in and sit heavily in the chair across from him. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned for the younger man.

Jon blew his hair out of his face and rested his forehead on the table. "I've got a headache, the staff meeting's in a few hours, I have to give a speech, and I really don't want to."  _And Kyle's not here either, so what's the point?_

Ryan reached over and patted Jon awkwardly on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do fine. And Kyle's coming back next week, it'll all be fine. Go get some Advil or something for that headache if it's really bothering you."

Jon glanced up at him confused "Who said anything about Kyle?" Ryan replied, just as confused as Jon was, "Uh... you just did? You literally just said it?" 

"...Did I?" Jon asked, scratching his head, his eyebrows drawing together. 

"...Yeah, you did," Ryan nervously laughed, shaking his head. He stood up, his break over, and headed out the door, patting Jon's back on his way out, "Gotta get back to work now. Good luck with the speech thing, Jon."

He chuckled as Jon just banged his head against the table again and groaned in response. 

Ryan wound his way through the halls of offices and cubicles that made up his workspace before ending up at his own in the corner. He plopped down at his desk, hearing Barry, who sat behind him, push his rolling chair closer to him.

"Hey, I was thinking about quitting."  _There's not much here for me anyways._

Ryan looked at him, surprised, "Aw, come on, Barry! Who else am I supposed to talk to when work is slow?" 

Barry shrugged, "You've got Jon," he said.  _You talk to him more then you talk to me, anyways._

"Hey, that's not true," Ryan muttered, "Besides, if you leave I'll miss you. Where were you thinking of working?"

Barry averted his gaze, staring at the wall instead of Ryan's face. "Promise not to laugh?" Ryan nodded. Barry took a deep breath before admitting, "I want to program videogames." 

Ryan looked surprised but nodded, "That sounds like a great idea to me. You're really skilled at coding stuff like that!" He frowned at him "Why'd you think I would laugh at you?" 

Barry just shrugged,"Everyone else I've told has." He locked gazes with Ryan for a second, seemingly thinking over his next action. "I... I trust you, Ryan. So I want to show you something."

He turned around in his seat and rested a hand in the center of the screen of his computer. In a second the screen seemed to flicker, as the computer turned its self on.

"I- what?" Ryan asked, blinking rapidly, looking from Barry, who had turned back around to face Ryan, to Barry's computer and back, "How the hell did you-?"

"I asked it to turn on." _That's how I've been able to get so much work done lately._

"You... asked it to?" Ryan asked, confused but not disbelieving. It seemed rather far-fetched, and yet he found himself accepting everything that Barry was saying to him. He couldn't sense any malice coming from the man, so Barry wasn't lying.

"Yeah. I've... lately I've been able to... talk to machines." _And you've been moving things without touching them._

"I've been what?" He asked. He had been willing to believe that Barry could talk to machines, but he wasn't quite ready to accept that he could do something as incredible like that.

 _And apparently you can read minds_ , he seemed to say. He felt the blood drain from his face when he realized that Barry's mouth hadn't moved.

"I- no, I'm not special. I can't do anything like that." He felt himself getting worked up over this. He tried to calm down but he only felt something heavy form in the pit of his stomach. He stood up abruptly. "I- I have to go."

Barry looked like he was going to tell him to stay, but he noticed the odds and ends on Ryan's desk start to shake and rattle. He stood up, clenching his fists so hard he though that his nails would draw blood, and walked as quickly as he could to the bathroom. He hoped that no one would be there so he could have his breakdown in peace.

He turned on the sink and dug into his pockets, looking for the bottle of aspirin that he always had with him. He pulled the bottle out and downed two pills dry. He could already feel the headache coming and he didn't want to deal with it if he didn't have to. He splashed some water on his face, trying to stop the panic that was quickly rising in his chest. He reached out to turn off the faucet only to have it turn on its own.

That's when he felt himself break.

The stall behind him slammed open, as did all of the other ones, and the mirror in front of him cracked. It looked like his reflection was sneering at him.

He heard the door to the bathroom open and before Ryan could possibly process who had stepped into the room it was like he was staring at himself through a cracked screen. It took him a second to process that it was the mirror. He saw himself raise a hand and the mirror seemed to break apart, the shards embedding themselves in the wall where he knew the door was. He ran towards the mirror, banging on it as if that would help. This could not be happening again!

All of a sudden he was standing where he had seen himself standing a second before, his arm still outstretched. A stunned Jon stared at him, clutching his arm where a shard of glass had cut him. Ryan slowly lowered his hand, feeling black creep into his vision. "S-sorry..." was all he could say before he felt himself falling...

-.-

His heart was pounding hard in his chest. His hands were twisting his hoodie around, leaving it crinkled and loose. He sat in the back of the bus, having used his ability to sneak past the driver. He wasn't quite sure when, but he knew that his invisibility had wavered for a second and there was now a guy sitting a few seats away that was staring at where he was sitting. He just really, **really** hoped that he wouldn't do anything, like try to talk to Ray.

Unfortunately for him, this person was the curious type. He stood up when the bus stopped and went over and sat next to Ray. He reached over to poke where he was sitting, and in a moment of panic his intangibility activated and the man's finger passed through his shoulder without making contact. He really hoped that the guy would just leave him alone but again he was disappointed.

"I know you're there," he said, and Ray gulped. Was this guy someone he had to be afraid of? Would he get kidnapped and thrown into some kind of science lab the second he opened his mouth? Apparently he let his concentration waver because the guy next to him jumped as he flickered into view for a few seconds. "Hey! I knew it!"

Ray put his face in his hands and mumbled, "Leave me alone, please."

"But you're like me," the guy whispered, and Ray looked up, surprised. This time he let his invisibility drop entirely.

"What?" He asked, and the guy just grinned impossibly wide. If he was telling the truth that made him the third person with abilities that he had met in the last two days. The first was that guy at the gas station (the one he was on the bus to go see) and the second was Gavin. It seemed too convenient for his tastes.

Somehow his smile got even bigger and he motioned for Ray to follow him off the bus. Ray shrugged and followed him. It was his stop, anyways. He turned invisible again and stayed close to the guy. If worse came to worst he could just bolt. It wasn't like the guy would know.

When the bus pulled away he looked around, asking Ray, "Are you still here?"

He rolled his eyes and turned visible again. "Yeah, I didn't leave. I'm not that much of an asshole." He absolutely was.

"Great," the guy said and turned around to face a bench that was bolted onto the sidewalk. He then proceeded to _rip it out of the ground_ like it weighed nothing more then a few textbooks. Ray took a step back.

"Woah," he said as the guy gently set down the bench. Ray glanced over at some random bystander staring at them and rapidly talking on their phone. The blood drained from Ray's face.

"You think the city'll sue me for that?" He asked, unaware of the distant police sirens. Ray grabbed his arm as tightly as he possibly could and tugged, motioning for him to start running. His expression turned to one of realization and he took off, practically picking up Ray.

"Do you know where that gas station is? The one that almost got robbed yesterday?" The guy nodded. "Go there."

Surprisingly he didn't argue and before Ray had time to process what was really happening he felt himself get practically dumped on the asphalt a few feet away from the entrance. "Fucking ow," he muttered, rubbing his shoulder.

"Sorry," the guy said. He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "I'm Arin, by the way. Don't think I mentioned that."

"Yeah, you didn't," Ray said, just a little bit grouchy after being thrown on the ground. He stood up and headed towards the entrance. He glanced back at Arin, saying, "Stay here for a second. I'll be right back." He turned invisible and opened the door instead of just passing through it. He didn't want it to be too much of a surprise for the guy to see him in his store. Plus he still wasn't really sure how the intangibility worked.  
  
The guy from before's head shot up as a small ringing was heard throughout the store, signaling that someone had entered. Ray saw his eyebrows furrow when he didn't see anyone, but he glanced at the mirror near him and a grin broke out across his face. "You know, I was kind of hoping you'd show up again."  
  
Ray found himself smiling despite himself. He let himself become visible again as he stood in front of the front counter. "I almost got shot yesterday because of you," he said, not without humor in his voice.  
  
"Eh," he shrugged, "It happens."  
  
"Does it?" Ray asked, and the guy just shrugged again. "Well, I'm Ray. I wanted to... ask you a few things."  
  
"Geoff," the man said, smiling crookedly. "And ask away. I'm always willing to help someone else with abilities out. Except for those Company assholes."  
  
"... who?"  
  
"The Company," Geoff said again, a look of disgust quickly overtaking any other expression. "They're a bunch of assholes. They kidnap people with abilities, and if you're deemed 'dangerous' they don't let you go. Ever." He shrugged. "They're not as bad as the Quartet, though." Ray just gave him another confused look. "Oh, right, I guess you wouldn't know them either. Just... if you meet someone who's a little _too_ nice, just turn the other way and run. Especially Kerry. He's bad news all around."  
  
"Kerry? I met someone named Kerry yesterday."  
  
Geoff looked like he was about to panic. "You did? What did he say? Did he touch you?"  
  
"No, he didn't touch me. He shook hands with Michael, though."  
  
"Does Michael have..."  
  
"Abilities? I think so." Ray rubbed the back of his head. "I think he can like control fire or something. He doesn't know, though."  
  
Geoff ran a hand through his hair. "Fire. Well, it could admittedly have been worse. He could have gotten your powers. That would have been a bitch."  
  
"Wait, what the fuck are you talking about?"  
  
"Kerry's power is to... well, he can kind of... copy other people's abilities. Miles, his partner, can kind of... make doubles of himself. It's a pain in the ass since whenever they reunite as a single entity again they let out this kind of blast of energy. It's hard to fight, almost as bad as Aaron's. His power is astral projection. And I think there's one other dude, Chris, but I don't know what his power is."  
  
"There's that many of us, huh?" Ray asked, not completely sure how to feel about this new information. He was kind of happy that he wasn't alone. Mostly, though, he was just scared.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Hundreds, maybe thousands. They're all over the world, at least the Company thinks so. They're trying to get someone to identify them all, but so far they're just looking at some genetics professor in some high school that's got some theories on the subject."

Ray scrunched up his eyebrows. That sounded familiar. He wasn't quite sure how, though, and since he had too many other questions he pushed it to the back of his mind. "Do you know anyone else? With powers, I mean."  
  
"Uh... yeah," Geoff said, thinking about it. "I have a friend. Jack. He can sort of... communicate with nature. At least that's what he says." Geoff rubbed his hands together. "And, uh, I wanted to ask you something. Do you... I mean, I've been wanting to... kind of make an... organization. Kind of like the company, but to help people with abilities, people who don't know how to deal with them or think they're all alone in the world. What to... do you want to join?"  
  
Ray raised an eyebrow. He considered it for a moment before shrugging. "I don't see why not. Just give me a second, I left someone waiting outside." With that he turned and poked his head out of the door. He looked both ways, searching for Arin. All he was greeted with was something strike the wall an inch from his head. Out of instinct he turned invisible and slammed the glass door shut. He glanced at the scorch mark on the glass before sprinting back to Geoff, ducking behind the counter before turning visible and tugging him down. "Someone's out there. I have no idea who they are, though."  
  
Geoff rolled up his sleeves, a determined look on his face...

-.-

He waited, like Ray asked, patiently. It was an exciting concept, meeting someone else with powers. Someone besides that weirdo with the electric powers. He didn't know why, but he just got a bad vibe from that guy. He leaned himself against one of the hot brick walls, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he'd get some answers. It wasn't like he didn't think being able to chuck cars across the street with one hand wasn't cool, but there were too many things he just didn't know about himself. He used to be so sure about who he was and all what he wanted to be. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely true. He knew he wanted to be something important, something that helped people. Maybe now he actually could be.  
  
His head shot up as he heard a dim, electric buzzing somewhere near him. He clenched his fists, looking around frantically. His eyes landed on the same guy as before, electricity jumping between his fingers. He braced himself to run, but the guy just rolled his eyes. "Why so tense? What did I ever do to you?"

Arin just glared at him and rubbed his shoulder. The burns were mostly healed, but it still hurt. He heard someone step up behind him and in an instant he was gone. He sprinted away from the two men that had come out of nowhere. He needed to get away, and that was the only thought in his head as he found himself near a small, secluded diner. There were no cars in the parking lot, and it looked like the restraint was just opening for the day. Arin jumped up the few steps that led to the door and wrenched it open, wincing as he realized that it had been locked. He would offer to fix it later.  For now, though, he had to hide.

There was someone standing behind the counter, frozen and looking at him, slightly terrified. Arin jumped over the counter, ducking behind it and whispering up at the employee, "I need to hide. Please don't tell them I'm here."

The guy looked at him, confused, but he just nodded. It didn't take long for Arin to hear the same voice as before float above him. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have seen someone come in here? Maybe about this high, chin length hair, pretty sturdy build if you ask me."

"Uh, sorry, no," the employee said slowly, glancing down at Arin. "And the diner isn't open right now, sorry."

"Mhmm," the guy said slowly, and Arin could hear him lean forward. "What happened to your door?"

"Uh, I, it-" he was cut off by a large ball of electricity impacting with his chest. Arin shouted and leapt up, taking the guy by surprise and punching him square in the face, sending him flying back into a table. Arin quickly turned back to the employee, expecting him to be severely injured or at the very least hurt, but he was just standing there, looking slightly bemused.

"I- you're alright?"

"...yeah. What the hell just happened?"

"How did he not- I thought you were dead or something-" Arin stuttered, trying to figure out why the employee was still standing in front of him. Suddenly, it clicked. "You're like me," he whispered.

"Excuse me?" He asked, gingerly stepping over to where the guy from before was passed out, a bloody nose dripping onto the floor. "Hey, can you... like, get him out of here?"

"Ah, yeah, sure," Arin said, picking him up with ease. He stepped outside and looked around for someplace to put him until he woke up, and decided that dumping him in the dumpster would have to do for now. He quickly turned back and went into the diner once more.

"I'm Danny, by the way," was the first thing the employee said to him when he walked in. "Dan Avidan." 

"Arin Hanson. Do you know what's going on?"

Danny shook his head. "I was hoping you knew."

"Well what's your power, then?" He asked. Dan just looked even more confused.

"Excuse me?" Something brightened behind his eyes and a grin spread over his face. "Oh, I know what you're talking about." He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. "Hit me, as hard as you can."

"You sure? I can hit pretty fucking hard." Danny just nodded eagerly and Arin pulled his fist back before hitting him in the stomach as hard as he could. He was thrown back by the force and knocked into the counter, cracking it. "Holy shit!" Arin shouted, rushing over, expecting to see him severely injured or worse, but Danny just looked up and him and grinned, standing back up. Arin could have sworn his skin lost a certain degree of luster, kind of like some kind of metal.

"I told you I'd be fine," he said confidently. At Arin's panicked look he only laughed and opened his mouth to explain. "I thought I was the only one, but I guess not. You called it a power, so I guess my power is to... adapt," he said, slightly unsure of his answer. "When that guy shot me I... kind of turned into rubber, so the electricity didn't really hurt me at all. I went swimming a few days ago and I didn't have to come up for air because I grew gills. It's kind of really cool if you ask me."

"That is kinda cool, actually," Arin admitted. "I met someone else today. His name was Ray, and he could turn invisible. I was... shit," he whispered, realizing that Ray was probably wondering where he was. "I said I would wait for him, but-"

"Hey, don't worry about it," an exhausted voice said to their side. Arin's head whipped around, landing on Ray just as he became visible again. He was collapsed in a chair, clutching his shoulder. "I'm just glad you're ok."

"Ray?" Arin said, panicking, "What the hell happened? Are you ok?"

"A few of the Quartet's allies jumped us. I think they were looking for you and figured, 'Hey, why don't we just attack the Puerto Rican too?'" He let out a huff of air and tried to stand up, only to fall back through the chair. "Fuck!" Ray shouted as he stumbled to his feet, "What the hell is wrong with me?"

Arin glanced back at Dan, asking, "Do you have any first aid supplies?" He nodded and ran behind the counter, presumably to look for it. Arin stepped closer to Ray, and he could tell immediately that he looked terrible. There were dark bags under his eyes, he was shaking, and when Arin put his hand against his forehead it was burning up. "Ray, you're sick."

"Bullshit," he snapped, attempting to push Arin away, only to have his hand phase through his middle instead.

Danny came back with a bowl of water and a fist full of clean bandages. Without a word he set to work cleaning the cut in Ray's arm, wrapping it gingerly. He didn't even stop working when Ray faded out of view for a few seconds. He looked like he was asleep on his feet.

"Seriously, Ray, you need to lay down or something. Let me take you home."

Ray just stared at him, before saying, "You were on a bus. You didn't come here in a car."

"I have a car," Dan said, putting the remaining bandages into a small first aid kit. "I can take you home." Ray just nodded...

-.-

"I don't buy it." Patrick frowned at the oldest of the trio who had introduced himself as Officer Hullum and his companions as Matt and Jeremy. When the trio came in he had rushed to cover his most recent painting, wincing as the still wet paint started to soak into the blanket.

“Hey! Don’t touch that!” He winced as he heard himself shout at the shorter one who had picked up one of his paintbrushes. If he remembered correctly that one was Jeremy. “S-sorry. Didn’t mean to shout…”

“It’s quite alright,” Hullum, the one clearly in charge, said soothingly. Something about his tone didn’t sit right with Patrick. He strode over to the painting he had just covered and gripped the sheet, pulling it off before Pat could protest. He let out a low humming sound as he looked at it. “Hmm. Mr. Rodriguez, I believe you have something we like to call a special talent.”

He felt the blood drain from his face. “You’re not cops, are you?” He knew it was weird that any form of the authorities would visit him.

“Nope,” the short one said, popping the p as he grinned at Pat. "Jeremy..." Matt warningly said.

Pat felt his heart start beating fast as he reached behind him to grab a paintbrush. “We believe you can paint the future,” Hullum said. That made Patrick pause. Were these guys crazy or something?

“Uh… no.” He felt himself skirt around them, towards a blank canvas. He grabbed a pallet and some paint and started to work, even though he had no idea why he was doing it. The voices of the not cops faded to white noise before they stopped abruptly. Pat wasn’t sure how much time passed but by the time sound started reaching him again the canvas wasn’t blank.

The canvas showed two men, one with longish, brown hair with a bleached streak through it and a smaller man with his back to them in a purple hoodie. The one with the streak in his hair was holding up a bench with one hand as though it weighed nothing. At that moment Hullum’s phone rang.

“Hullum. Yes. Really? That’s… quite a coincidence. No, don’t send anyone after them. I don’t think they’re a threat, but if they show up again you have my express permission to perform all the regular precautions.” He shut off his phone and looked at Patrick, who was staring at him, and smiled slightly.

“That was a call about a sighting of two people, both male, one with a purple hoodie and one with a blonde streak in his hair. The man with the streak in his hair pulled a bench out of the ground and ran before any authorities could arrive.”

Patrick gulped, glancing at his painting. He didn’t want to believe it, but it didn’t look like Hullum was joking. “If… I can do… this… then why are you here?”

Hullum smiled, Matt and Jeremy eagerly looking at each other, “We have a job offer for you...”


	4. Now I'm Insecure and I Care What People Think

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being late! Life is a bitch and writing is hard when you only have the roughest of outlines for a plot! XC  
> Song for this chapter is **Stressed Out** by Twenty One Pilots
> 
> People that show up in this chapter:  
> Michael Jones (RT/AH). Gavin Free (RT/AH), Ray Narvaez Jr. (RT/AH), Arin Hanson (GG), Dan Avidan (GG), Geoff Ramsey (RT/AH), Jack Pattillo (RT/AH), Jordan Mathewson (CT), Daniel Gidlow (CT), Chris Demarais (RT/AH), Aaron Marquis (RT/AH), Kerry Shawcross (RT/AH), Miles Luna (RT/AH), Lewis Brindley (YOGS), Simon Lane (YOGS), Kim Richards (YOGS), Will Strife (YOGS), Hannah Rutherford (YOGS), Ryan Haywood (RT/AH), Joel Heyman (RT/AH), Adam Ellis (RT/AH), Tina Dayton (RT/AH), Lindsay Tuggey (RT/AH), Kdin Jenzen (RT/AH), Gus Sorola (RT/AH), Suzy Berhow (GG)

When Michael woke up Ray was gone. There was a note taped to the fridge, something about him having to run an errand and that he'd be back in a while to get his stuff and then he'd probably head home. Michael just shrugged it off, and thought nothing of it. He ran into Gavin as he was walking downstairs.

"Oh, hullo," the Brit said, giving him a crooked smile. Michael still wasn't quite sure about how to feel about him. He was sort of annoying, his accent grating on his nerves, but he still enjoyed talking to him in some weird way. "You wouldn't happen to know where Ray's got to?"

Michael felt his eyes flit to the note he had scrunched up in his fist. "Uh... not really. All I know is that he went out to run some errands or something. Says he'll be back soon."

"Oh," Gavin said, looking a little worried. "You're sure he's alright?"

"Why are you so worried?" Michael asked instead of answering. "You only met the guy yesterday."

"I know, it's just... I'm kinda worried about him." Michael raised an eyebrow at that. "It's hard to explain, sorry. Do you, uh, play... videogames?"

Michael brightened a bit at that. "Hell yeah I do," he shouted, dragging the Brit down to the living room where his consoles sat. He threw a controller at him, chuckling as the Brit squawked and flailed around trying to catch it. He turned on a game of Halo and sat back to play it alongside Gavin. Time seemed to pass at an alarming rate, and before Michael knew it it was already midday.

That's when someone knocked on the door. "Yo, pause the game, Gavin. I think Ray's back." He got up and heard the Brit follow him as he opened the door.

He was met with two unfamiliar faces and one he recognized. Ray was leaning heavily against the smaller of the two taller strangers, a brunette guy with a blonde dyed streak in his hair, the other even taller stranger with wildly curly hair shuffling his feet worriedly behind them as he glanced over his shoulder nervously.

"Ray?" Michael asked, too stunned to really think of anything intelligent to say.

"Hi, Michael," Ray said, weakly smiling at him. Michael unconciously winced since Ray sounded just about as bad as he looked. He added looking past Michael "Hi, Gavin."

"I- who- what's going on?" Michael sputtered, as the guy that Ray was leaning against picked Ray up and carried him to the couch where Michael had previously been playing games with Gavin. Ray collapsed heavily into it, exhaling heavily.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. Didn't know where else to go." Ray's eyes found Gavin, who hadn't yet said anything. "Did you and your friend ever get...sick? Because of...you-know-what?"

Gavin looked confused for a second before a lightbulb seemed to flicker to life in his brain. "Oh! No, not me. It happened to B a lot though. We weren't really sure why it happened, but it never lasted that long."

Ray nodded and sighed, "Ok, good. Oh, by the way, that's Arin," the guy with a blonde streak in his hair waved sheepishly, "And the other one is Danny."

Bushy haired Danny just looked concerned at Ray, and pointed at him, softly saying, "Ray, your arm."

Michael looked at what he was pointing to and felt his eyes widen at what he saw. Ray's arm was inside the couch. Like, actually inside, his arm phasing through the fabric as if Ray was a character in a shitty gliched game.

"Shit," Ray hissed, wrenching it back out. His arm seemed to flicker briefly before settling back down. 

Michael gaped at him, equal parts confused and horrified. What the fuck just happened? Was he tripping balls or something?

"Uh, you didn't see that." Ray said staring back at Michael, looking just about as scared as the curly haired lad felt.

"Ray," Arin said slowly, almost chiding. "You told me about Michael. Don't you think you should tell him?"

"Tell me what?" Michael asked, rapidly feeling fear and anger collect in his chest. Ray had been talking behind his back about him to strangers and told them shit he hadn't told his best friend? 

"Uh... look, Michael. Remember what I said yesterday? About how, sometimes, I feel like I'm not really there? That I'm invisible?" Michael glared but nodded without saying anything.

"Well... turns out I am? Kinda? Well, it's an ability. We, everyone in this room that is, all have one." Almost on cue Ray flickered out of view for a second. "Shit! God dammit this is fucking annoying."

Michael's mind was just struggling to process what Ray had just said. All of them? Including him?

He turned to Arin, almost angry. "You, what can you do?"

Arin coughed before leaned down and grabbed the edge of the couch, lifting it up effortlessly with one hand. Ray protested as the movement made him sink into the couch as Michael rounded on Gavin, shouting, "What about you? What can you do? Why didn't either of you tell me about this?!" Gavin flinched away from him as he took a step towards the Brit.

"Michael!" Ray shouted, and he stopped and turned, glaring at his friend.

"Look at your hands." Ray quietly requested.

Michael stopped glaring to he did what he was asked. When he did he felt his eyes widen and his heart started fluttering in shock.

Flames, warm yellow-orange ones, danced across his hands, curling up his wrists, but they didn't hurt him at all.

He looked back up at Ray, and asked shocked, "W-What the hell is happening?"

Ray shrugged as Danny slowly neared Michael "Honestly? We don't know." Michael looked alarmed at Danny and started to pull his hands away as Danny went to hold them.

Danny smiled and said "It's okay. Watch." As Michael watched, once Danny's hands touched the flames, they turned silvery and shiny. Danny hummed, cupping his hands first around Michael's one hand, and then the other, smothering the flames.

He answered the wordless question "I adapt to situations. If I'm drowning I develop gills. If I'm electrocuted, I turn to wood or rubber. And apparently if exposed to flames or punched by an insanely strong person, I turn to metal" 

Michael asked "Is that why Ray is all beat up? Cuz you ran into someone who could do one of those things?" Ray sighed and said "Let me start from the beginning..."

-.-

Geoff moaned into his couch cushions as the doorbell to his house rang. He staggered up and peered through the peephole. He jerked out of his daze seeing a familar ginger haired man wearing glasses outside his door. He undid the locks and opened the door saying "Inside Jack."

Jack nodded and walked past him inside. He noticed that even the few minutes Jack had been outside encouraged some moss and weeds to grow in the cracks of the sidewalk where he had been standing. Geoff closed his door and relocked it before turning to face his oldest and closest friend. A friend that was currently talking softly to some potted plants that he had given Geoff.

Geoff wandered over as the plants grew bushier before his eyes. Jack frowned at him "They're annoyed that you haven't been watering them daily." Geoff shrugged "I warned you my work hours are unpredictable!"

He yawned stretching his arms above his head. Jack suddenly stabbed at his stomach with a finger making Geoff yelp. He looked offended until he saw the look on Jack's face. The _I'm-very-disappointed-in-you-for-not-keeping-yourself-safe_ look that made Geoff think of his mother.

"....What?" Geoff finally said. Jack pointed at his shirt which was still rucked up slightly and said annoyed, "Your ribs and stomach are bruised to shit." Geoff made a face "My tats took a pretty shitty beating the other day..."

Jack sat on his counter, burying his fingers amongst the potted plants. As the stems entwined his fingers and hands, Jack demanded "What the hell happened Geoffrey?"

Geoff winced before sighing "It's a long as dicks story..."

-.-

 _The door opened and Geoff glanced at Ray, or, where the kid had been a second ago. He let his tattoos reach out, snaking over the tiles and wrapping themselves around the intruder's legs. He tripped and Geoff jumped over the counter, wrapping even more ink around him. He drew back when the air around the man started heating up, forcing him to release him. The man reached out and rested his hand on the glass door as more tattoos shot out, racing through the air towards him._  
  
_He ducked out of the way just as the ink smashed through the glass- or it would have, if it was still a solid plane of glass. In place of window were two spikes of glass, which the man then proceeded to rip out of the door frame and throw towards Geoff._

 _It probably would have hit him, too, had a rack of junk food not been pushed in front of him, glass scattering as they fragmented. "Thanks, Ray," Geoff shot over to where he assumed the kid was._  
  
_"Seriously?" The man asked, leaning down to rest his hand against the ground, "Two against one? That's not fair is it?" He slowly raised his hand, the crappy tiles and the floor underneath it moving with his hand, forming what looked like a long pole. With a flourish he leveled it out, pointing what was now revealed to be a spear, that he had made out of thin air it seemed, at Geoff. He stepped forward quickly, taking Geoff by surprise._

_-.-_

_In the corner, hidden from view, heart pounding, was Ray._

_He could feel himself start to panic. What the hell was going on? He didn't get it, he didn't understand it._

_He was scared, terrified, but he knew he had to do something._

_He stepped out of the corner he had wedged himself into and ran forward, grabbing the spear the man attacking them had summoned from the ground. He wrestled it out of the man's hands just as it seemed to dissolve into dust and fragments of gravel._

_Ray's eyes found their way outside, where there was another man rushing off in a different direction. He didn't know how he knew, but that guy was after Arin. He sprinted out the door, letting his invisibility falter for a second. In that moment he felt something sharp and heavy just miss his chest and instead go spinning across his shoulder. He ignored the pain, too preoccupied by helping make sure Arin was safe. He was sure Geoff could take care of one guy by himself._

_-.-_

_Jordan, was thinking that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Chris and Aaron had guaranteed that he and Dan would only have to deal with one person like them, the super strong guy, not three,_

_Even though these two guys had some pretty neato powers. Bringing tattoos to life and turning invisible? That was sweet!_

_He concentrated, condensing the oxygen around the guy before flicking an empty lighter he kept in his pocket so that the air around the tattooed man heated up._

_He felt his body get knocked to the side by the same black and blue lines as before. They were strange to look at, like someone had taken a pen and drawn on reality like it was paper. What was really interesting was that they seemed to sprout from the tattooed man's arms like tentacles._

_He grabbed a rack behind him, shifting it's shape into a dense ball of metal before hurling it at the tattooed man. It collided with his stomach making the other guy grunt in pain._

_Jordan gulped as the man glared at him, the tattoos on his arms seeming to bubble and grow on his arms, detaching themselves from his arms. Jordan sucked in a panicked breath as a dragon made of black lines and red ink struck out at his face._

_He crouched against the ground, pulling out a sheet of tiles and quickly coating them in the metal from the copper wiring underneath them, using it to shield himself. He ducked down and ran, kicking the metal coated tile at the man and cheering silently as it hit him hard in the shins, causing him to collapse._

_He ran hard for a while before he realized he didn't know where Dan had gone._

-.-

Jordan leaned back, taking in the disappointed and slightly angry looks of the "higher ups." Aaron and Chris whispered between themselves, while Miles and Kerry deciding to think in silence. Finally Aaron and Chris stopped talking, Chris looking annoyed as if he lost an arguement with his best friend, as Aaron demanded "That's it? You didn't get him or either of the others? You couldn't beat three assholes combined? I thought you and Dan were better than that!"  
  
Jordan exchanged a look with Dan, who was holding an ice pack up to his heavily bruised face, sparks jumping off wherever the condensation made contact with his skin. He was hyper aware of how bruised and cut up he was as well as he sulked,  "Hey, don't blame me! One of them was able to turn invisible, just like James said! It was derned hard to deal with the enemy that I could see, let alone one that I couldn't!"  
  
Miles rolled his eyes and cut off Aaron's angry retort, "Yeah, so what? We didn't get the Hulk like we planned. We've still got Parvis from Vegas before the Company assholes did, and we still have James, who, as far as we know, the Company has no idea who he really is. I'd say that we're a few steps ahead of the game here. One little mistake won't ruin us."  
  
Jordan felt his eye twitch at the "mistake" comment, but kept silent. Miles was right but it still hurt.

Kerry nudged his shoulder, grinning, "We've also got a new mission for you, Jordan. Aaron's identified someone else with powers overseas in England, and we want you, Dan, James, Aleks, and Parvis to all go and pick him up."  
  
"Why five people?" Dan piped up, curiously, "Why not just two, like you sent after Arin?"  
  
"Because," Miles said slowly, "Aaron spotted another person besides the first one in the area with abilities, though this one has powers that are far too dangerous to go up against alone. There's no way we can think of that he'd take our offer and he's too **good** to think twice about protecting someone if they're in trouble. It could be dangerous considering his power seems to involve time, more specifically moving it forwards."

Jordan whistled, leaning back in his seat. Dan removed his ice pack from his face as Kerry butted in, "So we decided five was a safer bet so that we can get the one guy in without the other interfering." 

Dan asked, leaning in, "So what's the name and power of the guy who we're looking for?"

Aaron smirked "I didn't catch his last name but his first name is Dexter and he is a living breathing weapon store..."

-.-

"Honeydew? Really?" Lewis said rolling his eyes at his best friend "You plan on using your D&D name as your codename?" Simon pouted at him saying "Don't knock it! Besides you're doing the same Mr. Xephos!"

Lewis blushed as a small Asian woman with short hair, who had joined them recently, came into the room and nervously cleared her throat.

Gratefully Lewis turned to look at her "Hello Kim! Something wrong?" Kim made a gesture for them to follow saying "Will found something you guys will be interested to see."

They followed her into the other room where another member of their group, Will, had his one hand on the TV and the other on a laptop in his lap while his eyes were black with glowing green numbers, letters, and symbols flickering on them. The TV screen showed CCTV footage going past, frame by frame.

Lewis gasped as they watched a guy attempt to mug someone only to end up stabbed. "Look close." Will said, his voice echoing through the laptop speakers as he spoke.

Lewis did so and said slowly "Did his hand...?"

"Turned into a blade." An amused voice said from behind him. Lewis turned to see his harpy girlfriend Hannah smirking at him.

"He's one of us." She continued standing beside him "Will looked him up already. Dexter Manning. He works part time at a firing range and apparently any weapon he touches he can make his body into."

Lewis asked thoughtfully "Full body changes or just hands?" Will shook his head saying "Data insufficant. More data required before drawing conclusions." Lewis nodded and turned to look at Simon who looked elated "What do you say friend? Should we let him in?"

Simon nodded rapidly "Oh yes! Can I go get him Lew? Pleeeease?"

Lewis sighed and said "As long as you take Smiffy or Sips with you." Simon whined "Why!?" Hannah said sternly "We don't know the extent of his powers. For all we know he may be able to hit you faster than you can make a diamond shield." Simon pouted and nodded "Fine then...I better get a load of Jaffa cakes out of this..."

Lewis chuckled "Don't worry friend. You will..." 

-.-

He regains consciousness, barely registering the weight that seems to hold down his body and the cold, concrete room he was in. He tried to remember something, anything, that happened. It comes back blank and fuzzy at first, slowly sharpening into a full, coherent picture.

He shoots up in the bed once every last piece falls into place, heart racing. He can feel the panic growing stronger as he hears something from just outside of the room he's found himself in which, upon further inspection, looks more like some kind of prison cell. _Oh shit_ , he hears, _he's awake_. Well, maybe 'hears' isn't the best word for it. It's more like it's in his head before he can really process what's going on. He can feel people walking around behind each wall, he can hear, like the person before, their voices. Or maybe their thoughts, he thinks bitterly, remembering his earlier conversation with Barry.

He shakes his head, trying not to remember it. He looks around the room, taking in the concrete walls and floor threaded through with stains and cracks and somehow he knew that he had caused every single one of them. He was sitting on a thin mattress that was resting on the rickety metal frame that made up the only bed in the room. There was a metal sink across the room, as well as a toilet sitting innocuously in a corner. There was a metal table in the center of the room with two chairs facing each other. He caught his reflection glaring at him in the mirror over the sink and, disorientated and exhausted as he was, he glared back.

 _What the hell is going on out there?_ An unfamiliar voice... thought... mind? says.

Ryan twists around in the bed, resting his hands on the cold stone wall. "Hello? Can you hear me?" He asks desperately, hoping that there was someone who could tell him what was going on.

 _What? Did they get another one?_ The same voice floated through the stone.

"Another what? Where am I? Do you know what's going on?"

 _A telepath_? The voice said, before an actual voice was heard. "Hey, you just woke up, right?"

"Y-yeah," Ryan stuttered, feeling panic rise up again, and for a split second he was looking at himself through the mirror above the sink. He forced himself to calm down, to collect his thoughts. He wouldn't let it happen again.

"Well then you'd better get comfortable. You're probably not leaving for a while." _God knows how long I've been here._

"W-where am I? I don't understand." He swallowed hard, hearing his bed rattle under him as his knuckles turned white from gripping the thin blanket.

"You're in a company facility. They're an organization made to control people like us." The voice on the other side gave a bitter laugh. "If you're in the room next to mine, you're probably pegged as 'dangerous.' The bed has a better chance of walking out of here then you do."

He felt his heart beating fast and blood roar in his ears. He struggles to think, settling on asking, "People like us?"

"Yeah, people with abilities. Powers. Anything that poses a threat to them." There was a pause. "I'm Joel, by the way."

The abrupt change of the subject shocked him out of his panic. "I'm Ryan." He looked down at his hands, moving them slowly upwards, his eyebrows furrowing as the blanket seemed to follow the movement. "I guess... I'm..." What did they call it? When you could move matter without touching it? "Telekinetic."

"Nice. Telepathy and telekinesis. You're a genuine Jean Grey, you know that?"

"Uh... sure," Ryan muttered. "What about you? What can you do?"

"Haha," Joel laughed without humor. "I can turn things to gold by touching them. Haven't figured out how to turn it off yet."

"Oh," Ryan said quietly.

He felt his heart leap into his throat as the door to the room he had woken up in slid open, a stranger walking in. Ryan stood up hastily, clenching his fists slightly. He had no idea if this person was a threat or not. The man walked in calmly, as if he did this every day. He didn't seem all that threatening, despite his outward appearance. If anything Ryan would say he looked like a Viking.

The man grabbed a chair and sat in it across the table. He made a motion for Ryan to sit as well, so he did.

"Hello," the man said, "I'm Adam."

"Uh... hi," Ryan said slowly. "Where am I?"

"You're in a place where people can help you." Ryan wasn't sure he believed that. "But to do that, you need to cooperate. We understand that you are... some form of telepath as well as being telekinetic." 

"I- uh... sure," he settled on saying. "You can... help me?"

The man nodded. "That is the plan, yes." He dug into his pockets, producing what looked like a syringe. "To do that, though, some experiments and tests need to take place."

Ryan didn't like how that sounded. He stood up abruptly, pulling his arms close to his chest as his vision switched to the mirror again. It didn't take long for Adam to leave, the broken chairs, crushed table, and shattered mirror having a little to do with it. As Ryan collapsed on the floor he couldn't say he regretted it, though he might with time.

-.-

It was exciting, going to school in America. Everyone seemed to want to talk to him, to ask him what it was like where he was from or ask him to say something so that they could laugh at his accent. It wasn't too bad, honestly. It just got tiring after a while.  
  
He was just worried about Michael. Ever since Ray had told him about his powers he had, for the most part, stopped talking to them and had holed himself up in his room. Gavin wasn't entirely sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, because he still drove them to school the next day, even if there was a thick silence the whole way there.  
  
During lunch Gavin had stood there awkwardly for a moment, looking for someone he recognized. He felt someone tap on his shoulder and he jumped, looking behind him to see nothing. He glared. "It's not funny, Ray."  
  
"Maybe not for you," Ray laughed, appearing beside him. He had felt fine after some sleep, all traces that he had been sick disappearing. It was almost exactly what had happened to Dan. Ray grabbed him by the shoulder and guided him to a table. Michael sat, glaring at the food in front of him. There were three others, ones Gavin hadn't met yet.  
  
"Hullo," he greeted as he sat down next to Ray. "I'm Gavin."  
  
"Yeah, Ray's talked about you a lot," a girl with long black hair and a small smile said. "I'm Tina."  
  
"Lindsay!" A girl with long red hair chirped, hugging the still silent Michael. "I'm dating this ball of anger."  
  
Michael said nothing, but Gavin could see him blush. The last one, a guy, just grinned. "I'm Kdin. Spelled K-D-I-N."  
  
"Wot, did your parents not have enough money to buy anymore vowels?" Gavin laughed, earning a chuckle from Kdin.  
  
"Good one. Mind if I use it sometime?" Gavin nodded, glancing at Michael. He was staring at his hands, and he could see the dim light even from under the table. He shot him a warning look, and Michael only glare back.  
  
"I'm not doing it on purpose," he hissed, and Gavin glanced at Ray, worriedly. He concentrated, and he managed to force the fire to go out. He looked even worse after that.  
  
The rest of lunch passed without incident, and it wasn't until a few hours later when Gavin saw Ray and Michael again, this time in the same class. He sat down next to them, noticing that Michael's condition had not improved. "Is he alright?" Gavin whispered to Ray as Michael's head banged on the table. He groaned, wrapping his arms around his middle.  
  
"I don't think so. He's been acting kind of weird. I think he might have caught what I had... if it's contagious. Maybe it's something else, I don't know." Their conversation was brought to an abrupt end when the teacher started talking.

He was a weird looking man, a rumpled dress shirt and pants making it seem like he hadn't slept in a week or more. He had a glare painted on his face that didn't really reach his eyes. He was staring right at Gavin. "I see we have an exchange student here," he said, picking up a paper next to him and reading what was there. "Gavin Free. I believe you are staying with Mr. Jones?" Gavin nodded mutely, not quite willing to speak up. Suddenly he was feeling anxious, and he glanced at Michael's hands. There was smoke puffing up from between his fingers. "Well, I am Dr. Sorola and this is my class. I will not hold your hand through your stay here and you are responsible for yourself." With that his attention left Gavin and he sighed heavily, glad no one was staring at him anymore.

Gavin pulled out a notebook and pretended to pay attention to what was going on. He glanced back at Michael, small orange flames licking over his hands. Ray wasn't even pretending to pay attention. He stood up abruptly, pulling Michael along with him. Gavin shrunk down farther in his seat as he waited for Dr. Sorola to say something about them leaving. He didn't, and instead pulled open a power point and instructed one of the students to dim the lights so he could lecture.

"As I'm sure some of you are aware, evolution is the change in a species over time." Gavin glanced over at a girl with dark hair that had a blonde streak in it, sitting next to him, focusing intently on everything Dr. Sorola was saying. "This change is usually caused by natural selection, or the need to adapt to a changing environment. This change can be seen through bacteria and other microorganisms in a matter of hours, though for more complex organisms it takes significantly longer."

The girl was writing so quickly that Gavin was afraid the paper would start burning. He snuck glances at her notes instead of really paying attention. "While most people would like to think that humans have escaped the flow of evolution the opposite is true. In humans' genes there lies the possibility for infinite evolution. Things like self-sustained flight and rapid cellular regeneration are not beyond the scope of reality."

At this point Gavin started listening, his heart pounding in his chest. Did this teacher know about people like him? People like Michael and Ray?

The rest of the lecture was cut short by what sounded like an exploration outside of the classroom. Smoke and fire poured through the cracks of the door. Without thinking Gavin panicked, grabbing the girl's arm as he felt time start to slow around him. The girl wrenched her arm away from him, muttering, "Wha-" as time stopped around them.

Well, maybe stopped wasn't the right word. It was just really, really slow.

"Look, we need to leave," he said, and braced himself. He had no idea if his theory was correct but he might was well try. "I'm like you, and so's my friend but he's been having trouble with his abilities lately and now we have to get out."

"You're... like me?" The girl's eyes lit up, and Gavin knew in an instant he had been right. "That's awesome!" She grabbed him by the arm and hauled him over to the emergency fire exit, dangling Gavin out of it.

"Oi! Bloody hell, what are you doing?!" he sputtered and squawked as the girl maneuvered him so she could climb down the wall with ease. Before he knew it they were outside, smoke pouring out the windows and the fire alarm blaring.

"I'm Suzy by the way," the girl introduced brightly. She seemed a little bit too happy for someone who's school was now on fire.

"...Gavin. Do you, uh, think we should have helped everyone else?"

Suzy looked up at the window they had just escaped from and shrugged. "I could only carry you."

-.-

Ray dragged Michael out of the classroom, shutting the door quietly behind them. He turned to Michael, noting the terrible bags under his eyes and his shaking hands. He looked absolutely exhausted. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" He knew, probably, but he just really hoped he was wrong. His powers didn't hurt others, but fire would but the whole school in danger.

"I- I don't fucking know, Ray," Michael tried to snap, but ended up just sounding pitiful. He would have felt sorry for him had the threat of him burning down the school not been a very real threat.

"Well you need to pull yourself together or something. Go home if you have to. Throw yourself in a river I don't fucking know," Ray said, gripping Michael's shoulder and startling him, causing orange flames to come spitting at him, only to pass harmlessly through. Ray stumbled back as flames started to grow around Michael, expanding and growing at an alarming rate. Ray felt his feet pass through the floor and suddenly he was falling.

He felt his feet impact with the tiled floor and his knees buckle. Above him he heard something like an explosion and he could feel the heat even from a floor below. He shakily got to his feet and started running, passing through walls and door trying to get out. It wasn't until he was breathing heavily outside of the school did he remember that he had left Gavin inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [blog for this fic](http://letsplayheroes.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> [blog for this fic](http://letsplayheroes.tumblr.com/)


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